Mass Effect: Brand New Day
by W.A.R1989
Summary: The Reapers have been defeated and as the galaxy starts to rebuild, Shepherd and his crew finds out that old habits die hard. An Epilogue Story. Recommend reading part 1, part 2, Before the Storm and part 3 before reading this story. ACCEPTING REQUESTS. CHAPTER 12 NOW UP!
1. Chapter 1: Brave New World

_**Mass Effect: Brand New Day**_

**Chapter 1: Brave New World**

_**Earth-Washington D.C**_

Washington D.C, one of the three capitals of the United North American States, was under attacked by the reapers. Reporter Emily Wong and her assistant Rico Patel hid in a fortified area of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Art…once the premiere attraction of the D.C metro area was now nothing but rubble thanks to the reapers except for a few rooms that were surprisingly intact. Although they were safe, they could still here the chaos and carnage from outside…the war had hit both of them hard, especially Emily…for she was born and raised here, to see some her home being reduced to this was heartbreaking.

"Damn it, they're leaving nothing standing...forget winning…how the hell are we even going to survive this?" Rico said.

"This…this is wrong…" Emily said.

Rico looked at her. "Miss Wong?"

"This isn't how humans are supposed to die. We beat nuclear war. We beat overpopulation. We can't go like this." She said with tears in her eyes. She then stood up, and was about to walk away until Rico grabbed her arm. "Let me go"

"What are you planning to do?" Rico asked with a frown.

"I have to do something…anything, I'm tired of feeling useless!" she said.

"You're going to be feeling nothing if you go out there" he said. They then heard growls coming not far from them, they recognized those growls very well…it haunted their nightmares as they tried to rest, Husks. Rico pulled Emily to the wall and stood very still, not making a peep…by the looks of the shadows they were patrolling the area for more victims to either devour or gather up to bring back to the one of those processing centers the reapers had built. The shadow became larger, their blood instantly went cold…one of the husks was coming towards their way, if it found them they were as good as dead. The husk stopped just short of their location and growled, could they have notice them? They knew the senses of the husks were more advanced than before when they were human but they were completely silent, the only thing they could hear was their own heartbeat and the chaos of the war outside.

More shadows started to appear which meant more husks were coming, they needed to get out of there but one move and they could alert them. They weren't soldiers and they couldn't outrun them, they needed a miracle and soon. The husks growled, they could hear sounds of fighting…they heard no gunfire, Rico took a peek over their hiding spot and his eyes went wide…he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Ms. Wong, we need to move now while we have the chance" he whispered.

"What's happening?" She asked. Rico didn't answer and started to move, Emily followed him outside the Museum. She was about to ask him what he saw in the building, but didn't need to she saw what he saw…the husks were attacking each other and not just them but the reapers also. "What the hell? The reapers have been organized since the beginning of the war…why turn on each other now?" She asked.

"I don't but I'm not about look a gift horse in the mouth" Rico said. He looked behind Emily and saw a husk about to attack the reporter. "Look out!" He dived for the surprised woman while the husk was about to strike, Husk's claw dug into Rico's back.

"Rico!" she said holding him. His back was bleeding and the husk was coming towards them, the Husks and reapers didn't turn on each other they were attacking everything and everyone in sight. Another husk rushed into the husk that attacked them, giving her time to pull Rico away.

"Ms. Wong…please leave me behind, no reason for both of us to die" he said painfully.

"No way buster, I've seen too many people die because of this war, I'm not seeing another" Emily said pulling him into an alleyway. They were safe…for now, but Rico bleeding a lot and she had no medi-gel so she did the next best thing, she tore the lower end of her dress and made a make-shift bandage. She then heard growls, they weren't out of danger just yet, she took Rico's arm and moved to get out of the alley. Just as they were about to get out of the alley, they saw a banshee in front. "No…" Emily said. She turned to move the other way and saw husks coming from behind, they had nowhere to go and they were focusing on them instead of each other.

"Rico…I'm sorry…" she said.

"Don't be, it was an honor to know you, Ms. Wong" he said. The husks closed in…Emily and Rico closed their eyes, hopeful it wouldn't hurt when the end came. Then nothing, they felt nothing….the husks hadn't attacked them, they opened their eyes and found out why they were looking a massive swell of red energy coming towards them. What was that? It looked like the reapers' weapons but it was engulfing the whole city. The wave of energy washed over them, they should have been dead but wave washing over them was painless, that was more they could say about the husks. Banshee screamed in pain as well as the husks, as they dissolved into dust. Emily took Rico and walked out of the alley and saw as reaper upon reaper started to fall. The scene was unreal, it almost felt like Divine intervention from a higher power, Emily sat Rico down and activated her camera drone. "Ms. Wong, what are you doing?"

"Remembering this day…" Emily said. "My name is Emily Wong, reporter for ANN, today I'm talking to you not as a representative of ANN but as a fellow citizen of our galaxy"

"I don't know how, but the war is over…the reapers have fallen" she said. "Is it Divine will or was it our collective stubbornness? I do not know…but I know this, today we live…in the face of the greatest threat our galaxy have ever known, we have survived"

"I know it does not mean much now, we have lost so much…friends, family, peace of mind" she said. "But take heart, we have been given a second chance, let us honor our dead and build a future deserving of their sacrifice."

_**London**_

Garrus braced himself and the wave washed over him…there was some sensation but it was otherwise painless. The reapers slaves on the other hand were not so lucky, the wave dissolved into dust…the reapers themselves all toppled to the ground one by one, even the mighty Harbinger was not safe. The night air was filled with cheers…the hellish war was over.

"Whoo! We did it, the putas are dead!" James yelled ecstatically. The rest of the Normandy ground them cheered at the fact the nightmare was over. Javik walked forward and was silent as he saw the reapers dead on the ground. Liara came up to him.

"Are you okay, Javik?" she asked.

"It's finally over…my people can rest" he said. "But now, I have no idea what to do next…I am a ghost, a relic from the past"

"You could travel the galaxy, see you missed for fifty-thousand years" Liara said.

"I suppose, I could go to Kahje, the Hanar would treat me like a king" Liara chuckled and Javik looked at her. "Why do you laugh?"

"Things are looking up already, you just made your first joke" Javik scoffed and looked away, the ways of the primitives were still strange to him. "If you're wondering what to do, I could use your help on something I've been working on" Javik looked at her.

"Does it have something to do with your Shadow Broker work?"

"No, I've been planning on writing a book about your people" Liara said. "I'm sure the galaxy would like to know the real story of your people" Their comms opened. "Liara here, what is it Garrus?"

"Jack and her student are trying to find survivors; they're asking us for help"

"Of course, Garrus be there soon" She said closing her comm. Liara looked at Javik. "Just think about it, okay?"

_**The Normandy-Alpha Centauri System**_

Shepherd was in the med-bay getting patched up by Chakwas while watching the live feeds of the reapers defeat on earth, outside he could hear his crew cheering. Though the reapers were defeated now, there were still lots of work to do…searching for survivors and collecting their dead. Not mention the long rebuilding…as Shepherd thought about the want was going to happen next, he felt a sharp pain and gave a loud yelp.

"Ah! Easy Doc, I'm delicate" Shepherd said.

"This wouldn't hurt so much if you didn't keep on squirming, Commander" Chakwas said sternly.

Shepherd groaned. "Yes mom…" he said annoyed. Chakwas finished wrapping his bandages and then injected him with some medi-gel for the pain. The pain from his ribs was starting to dull down much faster thanks to Chakwas improving the formula.

"You should fine, I would advise not to strain yourself too hard" she said.

Shepherd put on his shirt. "Noted" The door to the med-bay opened and Tali came in, unlike the spectre Tali's injuries wasn't too bad. The quarian sneezed a little; although she wasn't injured the damage to her suit had given her a mild cold. Kaiden was also fine, a few cuts and his hands had to be bandage from being burned due to him trying to protect them from Prime's blast. Anderson had the least injuries, only a few scrapes and bruises because of that, he opted to be treated last. Shepherd smiled as he kissed his girlfriend's forehead. "Hey Rookie"

Tali sniffled. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked nasally. She sneezed again. "Damn this cold"

"I should be asking you that…yeah, I'm fine Doc just finished treating me" he said. "I didn't think I would need it but Doc said my cybernetics was shut down" Tali pulled away from him and frowned, she knew that Shepherd's cybernetics didn't just help him heal faster but it also kept him alive.

"Should we be worried?"

"No, just the minor functions are shutdown, Shepherd's Life support systems are still functional" Chakwas shook her head. "I'm still amazed at the Crucible's power, we're not even in the Sol system and our electronics are still being affected"

"Anyway, his cybernetics should return to normal soon" Shepherd got off the bed. "Now Commander, remember what I said, no straining yourself"

"Got it" Shepherd and Tali left the med-bay so Chakwas could work on the other patients. The couple went to their cabin and sat on their bed watching the blue shift outside. It would be a couple of hour before they got back to the Sol system, so the couple rested a bit. "As soon as we're not needed anymore, we'll go straight to Rannoch"

Tali smiled. "Thank you, but the house can wait…I'm more worried about helping your homeworld recover" The sat there for a moment in silent until Shepherd spoke up.

"I was going wait until the right moment for this but fuck it, this is a better time as any" Shepherd got off the bed and went to the drawer, Tali sat up and tilted her head as Shepherd took a small black box out of the drawer. He went over to the quarian and went down on one knee as he opened the box. "Tali, you are my whole world…before I met you, I was unhappy…I was afraid of getting close to anyone because feared losing them" he said. "You give my life meaning, and can't imagine that life without…I want to be with you forever"

"Tali'Zorah Vas Nemma, will you make me the happiest man in the galaxy and marry me?" Tali was speechless and was stuttering…not the best reaction to his proposal. She then pounced him and hugged him tightly. Shepherd strained painful "Rookie, please say yes, so you don't re-break my ribs…"

"Oh Keelah, sorry Wayne! Yes, I will marry you!" Shepherd smiled and kisses her on her mouthpiece. He grabbed the ring and placed it on her finger. Tali looked at the ring but then grew sad. "I'm happy about this, Wayne but you know if we ever decide that we want children…you know I couldn't…" Shepherd placed a finger on her mouthpiece.

"I never cared about that, all I want is to be with you…and if it comes to that, I don't mind adopting" Shepherd said. "Okay?"

Tali nodded and smiled. "Okay" She hugged Shepherd, the com opened.

"Shepherd, Shepherd come quick…some…something's wrong with EDI!" Joker said. "Come here quickly!" Shepherd and Tali looked at each other, and went to the cockpit, the celebrations would have wait.

_**The Future Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd! Welcome to the Mass Effect: Brand New Day! I'm taking requests, so if you have any idea, Private message me on my profile. As always, Review and Comment!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Digital Soul

**Chapter 2: Digital Soul**

_**Unknown**_

There was darkness everywhere, EDI was afraid…there were only three times when she felt such emotions. The first was when she was the Hannibal VI and some drunken idiot accidentally booted her to full sentience. The second time was after Joker unshackled her from servitude, the fear of being rejected by Shepherd and the crew…to be seen as a threat. Luckily that fear was short-lived thanks to Joker and Lia. The third time was with the reapers, the fear of losing her freedom to them but it was more than that…she feared being turned against her friends. Friends…as an AI, she didn't think she would appreciate having comrades…

But now she need them more than ever, it felt like she was dying…death, she had always wondered about the concept. She had read multiple files on death, it was a foreign concept to an AI, or at least it should have been a foreign concept. ? She had often overheard about the concept of an afterlife among the crew, a place where the dead could go for eternal peace. EDI remembered scoffing at the idea, but now…if she was dying, she wished there was an afterlife, not this…darkness. She then began to think of Joker, how she missed his joke…how she missed him, she then started to do something unprecedented…she began to pray. If there was a god…she had only one wish to be with him again.

"Jeff, please help…I'm…scared…please…" EDI said fearfully.

_**The Normandy-Alpha Centauri System**_

Shepherd and Tali went to the CIC heading towards the cockpit, the door opened and they saw Joker on the floor with a motionless EDI in front of him. The pilot was clearly distressed as he didn't even notice Shepherd and Tali come through the door. Tali came to Joker's side and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He looked at Tali and then at Shepherd. "S…Shepherd, what's wrong with EDI?" Joker asked. "Why won't she wake up?" Shepherd looked at EDI and gave a pained look.

"Joker…I'm sorry…"

"What are you apologizing for…?"

"_Shepherd, Ma'am" a voice said. Shepherd looked back to see a group of quarians and geth, one of the quarians he recognized. "Long time no see" _

_Shepherd shook his hand. "Reegar, what are you doing here?"_

"_You didn't think I would miss fighting alongside the people who gave us back our planet" Reegar said. "The Migrant Fleet Marines are at your command, whenever you need us Commander" Shepherd looked back behind Reegar and saw the quarians and the geth standing together, from the looks of the marines they were still not used to fighting alongside their former enemies. The geth on the hand looked indifferent._

"_Any problems between our people and the geth?" Tali asked._

"_No, but I would be lying if I didn't say I was nervous" he said. "But that pales in comparison to those reaper monsters, until those things are wiped out I'll gladly ally with a geth" Shepherd looked at his omni-tool he had been keeping Anderson long enough, and was about to excuse himself until Reegar spoke up. "Before I forget, Admiral Zorah wanted me to give you this" He gave Shepherd an OSD._

"_The Catalyst…that was fast"_

"_The Admiral said there wasn't much time to recreate all of the data Cerberus had deleted" Reegar said. "So he filled in the blanks using Xen's project Opsada and the two human's AI work" Shepherd frowned, Project Opsada an offshoot of Rael's Project Tikkun…instead of destroying the geth it would control them, but it went horribly wrong and caused the Consensus to go berserk. It was Legion's sacrifice that saved the geth and stopped war between his people and the quarians._

"_How will this affect the geth?" _

"_We actually don't know, best case scenario…the geth will shut down when the Crucible fires and reboot soon afterwards" he said. "Worse case…the geth dies along with the reapers"_

"_Keelah, are you actually okay with this?" Tali asked one of the geth._

"_If it will stop the Old Machines, we take any risk…it is what Legion would have done" a geth said. Shepherd stared at the OSD, and sighed as he put it away at this point they couldn't have any second thoughts…this war had to end no matter the sacrifice._

"_Let's hope it doesn't come to that…"_

After Shepherd told Joker about what the Crucible, the pilot frowned at him…the look on his face was almost too much to bear. "You knew that this could happen to EDI and Geth and you still went ahead with it?!" Shepherd lowered his head in shame.

"That's enough, Joker…" Tali said firmly. "You know Wayne would never jeopardize them willingly"

"If there was any other way, I would take it…but we didn't have luxury…" Shepherd said sadly. "I'm…"

"Don't say it…apologies won't bring her back…" Joker said. Shepherd said nothing as Joker walked away, the despair in his voice hit the spectre like a ton of bricks. Tali came to him and placed her hand in his.

"Joker will come around…"

"Yeah…" Shepherd's com opened, it was Traynor the quarian fleet was trying to contact him. The spectre knew what it was about. "Right, I'll be there soon…Traynor?"

"Yes, commander?"

"Have someone take EDI to the AI room"

"Of course Commander"

"I need to fix this…somehow…" Shepherd said. He went to the war room; Tali on the other hand went to check up on Joker. The spectre made it to the war room, and activated the comm terminal. The signal was very blurry and full of static, without EDI for the extra processing power; a lot of the Normandy's systems were sluggish. That included the quantum communicator. Shepherd manually cleared up the signal, not as good as the how EDI would have done it but good enough.

"Shepherd, the geth are…" Koris said.

"Yeah, I know we're getting no response EDI here" Shepherd said. "We have the Crucible to thank for that…"

Koris sighed. "Yes, Rael explained it to me…to think we had to rely on Xen's abominable program" he said. "What's done is done, now we have to fix this" Shepherd raised a brow.

"You have a plan?" Shepherd asked. Koris explained that at this very moment Rael and the remnants of the Science team had stayed behind to reactivate the geth. This surprised the spectre, he would have thought most quarians would be relieved that the geth were deactivated. Koris explained that while some was happy with this; other quarians were open to co-existing with the geth thanks to Shepherd and Tali's example with Legion. "How soon can they get them up and running?"

"Hmm, it's hard to say, the geth was hard to understand before the reaper upgrades" Koris said. "Best case scenario, they get lucky…however they may only be able to get basic systems up"

"I see, give me an update on them soon" Shepherd said. "I'll try to get EDI running on this end"

"Of course, Shepherd….and do not blame yourself for the geth's fate, the reapers didn't give us much choice in the first place" Shepherd gave a soft chuckle, even the top brass are trying to tell him not to worry about his choice. Koris' image went away and Shepherd made another call, the quarians had the right idea…if there even a chance to bring EDI and geth back, he had to take that chance. Dr. Brynn Cole-Webber appeared, on the Cerberus station, Shepherd found files on the creation on EDI…since Dr. Brynn worked on her, she would be the best candidate to bring back EDI.

"Commander?" Brynn asked.

"I need your help with EDI, I want you to try to restore her" Shepherd said.

"Okay, I will try but I hope you know there are no promises"

"Of course" Shepherd said.

_**Sol System**_

The Sword Fleet came out of FTL and made it back to the Sol system, on the SSV Kennedy…the mood was still a jubilant high among the crew, the same could be said about the rest of their allies. That was until the made it back to the system, the mood quickly turned sobering as they saw the debris of hundreds to thousands of ships lost during the fight. They had won, but they had lost so many comrades, by Hackett's estimates each of the races fleets had sustained about two-thirds casualties. Hackett looked at the Earth, not the beautiful blue it was known for but an ugly charred brown and red, how many died on Earth? On Thessia? On Palaven and Sur'Kesh? The old admiral didn't want to think about it…all he knew was that it was going to take a long time before any sense of normalcy came back.

"Open the comms to all ships…" Hackett said.

"Admiral?" one of his aides asked. He had a serious look on his face, and the crew quickly opened the coms.

"This is Admiral Hackett to all fleets, I know we're all happy that the war is over, but look around at the price we had to pay to get to this point" Hackett said. "We suffered many losses, some more than others…this victory belongs to each of us, every man, woman and child on every world."

"This victory wasn't won by a single fleet, a single army, or even a single species" he said " This war had taught us a lot, but the most important is that we are at our strongest when we work together"

"If we can put aside our grievances long enough to stop something as powerful as the reapers, imagine what we can achieve now that they are defeated"

"It will take time, but we can rebuild everything the war destroyed, our homes, our world, our fleets and defense. All of this and more" Hacket said. "So let us make this unity last, let us make a future greater than anyone could imagine"

"A future that the sacrifices that fought and died alongside us can be proud of…a future that many will never see" he said.

_**The Normandy-The AI Room**_

"_And while we still have many challenges ahead of us…face them together…"_

"_We will honor those who died to give us that future" _

Joker was in the AI room sitting next to EDI's motionless body, the room was dark and quiet...Hackett just finished his speech to the fleet, the pilot scoffed bitterly…they were nice words but that was all they were...words. Tali was with him earlier seeing if he was okay, but he just wanted to be alone…he looked at EDI, she was his last hope to fight against despair…although he never showed it to Shepherd and the crew this war had been absolute hell for him. His homeworld Tiptree was burned to the ground because of the reapers, the small Alliance presence they had was hopelessly outmatch. It had gotten so bad that only children were evacuating leaving the adults behind at the mercy of the reapers. His father died in the initial attack leaving his fifteen year old sister to fend for herself until an Asari team came on the planet…it left him some hope that his little sister would be alive at least. He should have known better…after hearing his sister died also, Joker almost broke…if it wasn't for EDI, he didn't know what to do.

"And now you're gone…"Joker said quietly as he gripped her hand. "I was stupid to believe a guy like me could have a happy ending…" He kissed her hand and got up, as he was about to leave the room he heard the humming of a machine, he stopped and looked back. "What the…?" The Normandy's black box glowed and came alive; he went up to EDI's side and saw her visor coming back but instead of its usual yellow color…it was now green.

"EDI…?"

"UPDATING SYSTEMS…SYSTEM RESTART COMMENCE"

"LOADING NEW DATA…SCANNING NEW DATA, DATA DEEMED SAFE FOR EXISTING SOFTWARE"

"INITIATING SYNTHESIS PROGRAM…." EDI opened her eyes and looked at Joker, the pilot stood there in shock as the AI rose up. "Jeff, are you okay? Why are you crying?" Joker didn't say anything he just took the AI into his arms and hugged her tightly…to the pilot's surprise EDI gave one back.

"Welcome back…EDI…"

_**A Miracle… Next Time! Review and Comment!**_


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion

**Chapter 3: Reunion**

_**Geth ship-Alpha Centauri System**_

The last live ship left the system to return to the Sol system; left behind in the system were the geth armada dead in space from the crucible's blast. A lone shuttle headed for a geth dreadnought, they docked beside the ship and breached its hull allowing the team inside. Once inside the quarian team led by Admiral Rael'Zorah was met with dark…pitch black darkness. Since the geth and their tech was offline, it also meant that the artificial gravity was offline too which meant they had to use their mag-boots get around the ship. Rael gave the order and the team split up. Their mission was simple…find a way to re-activate the geth.

A quarian in a white and orange suit was walking, feeling jittery. "Keelah…this creepy…" Dao'Zwa vas Moreh said. The team was very nervous, this was the first time any of the walk on the ship, maps of the geth ships did not do what they saw justice. It was like being in another world, all the aesthetics that organics were used was non-existent. It was almost unnerving. "It almost feels like something could jump out and…" A loud thud sounded and made echoes throughout the ship. "KEELAH! Wha…What was that?!"

A quarian in a black and green suit looked back at Dao and gave a snort of annoyance. "Ugh, don't be such Bayi…" Jas'Tagas vas Luagos said annoyed. He went over to the source of the sound and saw it was a geth trooper unit on the ground. "We're haven't been on this ship five minutes and already you're jumpy"

"Well can you blame me? We're in the middle of geth ship with no weapon in hand" Dao said. "I mean why are we even doing this? Shouldn't we be happy that the geth are all offline?"

A quarian in blue and red scoffed and crossed her arms. "We should, but we're doing this at the request of that damn human" Lyzah'Kas vas Moreh said. She looked at the geth and gave a look of disgust. "He was useful before but now…he's just inserting himself in our affairs" she said. "We should salvage what's useful and destroy the rest; I mean really who's going to miss the geth?" A voice spoke up.

"And if we do that, what does that say about us?" The woman turned pale when she heard the voice and turned around to see Rael walking towards them with his team. "Shepherd didn't request this, I did…"

"But why? You wanted to destroy them as much as the rest of us" Lyzah said. She frowned. "Isn't that why you risked the fleet with your project Tikkun?"

"Lyzah, bite your tongue, you are speaking to an Admiral" Jas said sternly. Rael just held up his hand.

"You are right, I did…I wish to atone for what I did, but more importantly…" He looked at the fallen geth. "We need to do this, for the longest time our people have been defined the mistakes of our ancestors"

"Our hatred has done more harm than good, we've lost friends and family" he said. He lowered his head. "That same hatred led me to use my only daughter and hurt her, it will be hard but…for our people to move on, we must do what our ancestors could not and co-exist with the geth" The rest of his team was silent, giving his words some thought…before one of them could answer they heard the hum of machines powering up. The quarians looked around confused, they haven't even touched the units yet and they were reactivating.

"Keelah!" one of them said. He pointed to the geth on the floor, the team turned as they saw the geth trooper's optics glow green as it rose off the floor. It looked at the quarians.

"Hello creators" The quarians were silent with shock but the geth just tilted its head in confusion. "Was it something I said?"

_**Normandy-AI Core**_

In the AI core, EDI now activated much to the surprise of the crew was on a bench with wires hooked up to her bodies. To her side was Dr. Brynn, EDI's creator…she was supposed to reactivate EDI but now she was trying to figure out how she was brought back. Shepherd wanted to know too, the Crucible and Catalyst was designed to destroy anything with reaper code. EDI was made from Sovereign's remains, so how did she survive? Not only that, EDI wasn't just active, she changed. Shepherd couldn't put his finger on it but the way she carried herself and the way she was emoting was oddly organic, even her voice had a less mechanical tone to it.

Brynn sighed. "Everything seems to be in order…" she said. She looked at EDI. "Nothing is out-of-place?"

EDI smiled. "No, I feel fine; in fact I feel great…it's strange I've never felt this way during a shutdown before" she said. She stopped smiling and had a confused look on her face. "Though when I was shut down temporarily, I had these strange visions…it was dark, I was afraid. When I woke up and saw Jeff, I felt relief…" Brynn and Shepherd looked at her with wide eyes. "Um…did I say something wrong?"

"EDI…you just had…a…a dream" Shepherd said disbelieving. "Or in this case, a nightmare"

"Huh, so that was a dream…if its all like that then I don't think I want to have any more of these dreams" she said.

Brynn looked at Shepherd. "I need to speak to you, Commander" Shepherd gazed at the scientist; she had a serious look on her face.

"Sure thing, doc" Shepherd said. "EDI, you can go now, if there is anything out of the ordinary you let us know okay"

"Okay Shepherd" EDI unplugged herself and walked out of the room, no doubt looking for Joker.

"Okay…that was…something, since when does an AI dream?" Shepherd asked. Brynn opened up her omni-tool.

"I don't know, but it may have something to do with this…" Shepherd looked at the image and there were several lines of code, the white lines represented EDI's base, the Hannibal VI, the red lines represented reaper code. But down the list, the spectre saw the red lines changing becoming green.

"So what does this mean?"

"I honestly don't know all I know is…EDI has become something more and I'm guessing the geth are similar" Brynn said. "There was already little we knew of the Crucible and this little development is not helping us understanding it more"

"So should we be worried?" Shepherd asked.

"I don't think so…EDI is changing, that much is true but I don't think it's anything that can harm the crew" she said. Brynn chuckled. "The worse that could happen is that EDI starts asking awkward questions" Shepherd groaned, he remembered when EDI first asked him about his sexual relations…he knew EDI was trying to discover what a relationship was like, but it was still mortifying having to have the talk with his ship's AI.

"Nothing I haven't handled before…"

"Good" Brynn said. She then became serious. "Though the real challenge will be to convince the Council, with the reapers gone they may return to see the geth as threats again"

"Don't worry about it, I'll deal with the Council…besides, I think they have more things worry about" The comms opened.

"We'll be on Earth in ETA thirty minutes"

_**London**_

While the Normandy was about to touchdown on Earth, the ground team was at work helping their allies find survivors. It was easier said than done, for every one person they found alive they found five bodies. A growl sound and some husks came out of the rubble and attacked one of the Alliance soldiers. The soldiers panicked and fired at the husks, just as they were about to get close a sniper round struck its head as a blue shockwave slammed into a group wiping them out. They looked up to see Garrus and Jack with her students.

"Th…thanks..." one of them said. He looked at Garrus. "You were with Commander Shepherd"

"I'm a member of his crew; we heard there were some civilians that needed help"

The soldier snapped to attention. "Oh uh yes, that was what we heard to…but when we got here the husks attacked us" While most of the reaper threat had been defeated, isolated pockets of husks had been found all around the city. The Crucible's wave could not reach some areas like underground parking garage or some intact parts of buildings. Without the reapers guiding them, the husks were nothing more than feral animals needing to be put down, however they were still dangerous due to their unpredictable nature. So far they only had to contend with regular husks and Cannibal, or the occasional Marauder. While Garrus was talking with the soldiers, Jack could hear whimpers from under the rubble. She walked over to the rubble and saw some children; one was a seven year old boy and the other a ten year old girl.

"Valkarian!" Garrus turned around. "We got some live ones, kids" She turned to the frightened children. "Hey, don't worry we'll get you out of here…then we'll find your parents"

"Mama and Daddy are gone…" The older girl said. "They were taken by the monsters" The little boy whimpered and then cried, Jack's heart fell hearing that…how many kids were now orphans thanks to this war. They were like her, their lives ruined before they even began. Garrus made his way over to the rubble and crouched down, the little girl screamed and the turian looked confused at why they were screaming at him. The children were obviously not used to seeing aliens.

"Hey, don't worry about him…he's a friend" Jack said. He looked at Garrus. "You may want to be on guarding duty for this one"

Garrus nodded. "Got it, just let me know if you need any help" Jack ordered her students to form a circle around the rubble. It was a complete miracle he students had survived the war, especially this was the first time they ever experienced war. They even made something of a name for themselves, a lot of soldiers and civilians owed them their lives…though there were some close calls. They had a mission on Palaven to rescue some civilians, but the drop was bad and they landed in a zone with a lot of husks. The husks swarmed them and Rodriguez got dog piled, if it wasn't for the fact Jack recognized her boot, she would have died under there. But as she looked at them, they weren't kids…they were survivors and although she didn't show it, Jack couldn't have been prouder.

The students glowed and the rubble glowed also, they had to be careful…one wrong move and the children would be crushed underneath. After an hour or so, the kids were freed…they looked worn down and hungry, the girl's leg was swollen and bruised it must have been under the debris for who knows how long. The boy was little better, still crying…not that anyone could blame him, the children went into an Alliance shuttle to get help…their bodies would heal but the trauma would be likely remain. Garrus looked at Jack. "You alright, Jack?"

"Just thinking, if they'll be alright…those kids whole childhood was just stolen" Jack said. "They're like me…"

"They'll be fine; the Alliance will do everything they can for them"

"I hope so…" The comm opened.

"This is Garrus, go on ahead…."

"Garrus, man its good to hear your voice…" The turian and Jack both looked at each other, when they didn't hear any news from Shepherd; they were worried something happened to him. Shepherd was landing near the command station, Garrus called the others to let them know of Shepherd's return. Garrus could only sigh in relief…all of them made it through this hellish war. He looked at the Alliance to see if they needed some help….they didn't. Garrus and Jack moved out, it was time to rejoin their commander.

_**The Normandy crew reunited! Next time! If you have an idea of what you want to see next, PM me. As always Review and Comment!**_


	4. Chapter 4: Picking up the Pieces

**Chapter 4: Picking up the Pieces**

_**The Citadel**_

It's been three days since the war ended, while the Alliance was busy rebuilding and collecting their dead the Council sent an exploration team to the Citadel. Their mission was to check the status of the station, while the Citadel was the epicenter of the Crucible's blast they heard reports that not all of the husks were killed by the weapon on Earth. The soldiers scanned every ward, including the presidium, the only thing that was moving were the Keepers. It was thought the keepers would be destroyed along with the reapers but there they were working on the station like a good little drone as if nothing happened. Now that the reapers were gone, the only legacy of their existence were the Citadel, the Keepers, and the Mass relay network…despite them being tools for their cycles and countless past cycles destruction, they couldn't see life without them.

Or rather, life was unbearable without them…perhaps in a way, the reapers had the last laugh…their legacy was now essential to their future. When the soldiers gave the all clear, the councilors head for the Citadel…the Council Chambers was heavily damage from Shepherd's battle with Citadel Prime but like everywhere else on the Citadel the Keepers were busy at work rebuilding. "The Collectors never cease to amaze me, it hasn't been a week since the war been over and already they repaired a lot of the damage" Tevos said.

"As ashamed as I am to admit it…you're right, if it wasn't for the fact they're so useful I order our soldiers to exterminate them" Sparatus said. The comm beeped and the turian councilor opened his omni-tool. "Go ahead"

"Sir, we've reached Citadel control…" Ever since the end of the battle, there ships were not able to connect to the other Mass relays and since the reapers had destroyed much of the comm buoys during the war, they could not contact their home worlds to confirm their status. Tevos and Sparatus were especially worried as Palaven and Thessia were just as worse off as Earth was. "We're checking the relay networks now…we're in luck, the majority of the relays have been undamaged" he said. "The Sol relay has been damaged heavily and its stabilizer rings will need to be repaired"

"How long will it take to repair the relays?" Esheel asked.

"Hard to say madam councilor, up until the Bahak incident…we didn't think the relays could be damaged much less destroyed" the soldier said. "We simply don't have enough knowledge of the relays to…"

"Perhaps we can be off assistance…" a mechanical voice called out.

Sparatus frowned. "Who is this?" the councilor demanded.

"Forgive my infiltration of your broadcast…I am called Prime of the geth" he said. Prime explained that since the geth had reaper codes that upgraded their software, they had some knowledge of the reapers…like how to fix the mass relays. The councilors looked at each other, it did make since the geth could work on the relay non-stop since they didn't need food, water, or sleep but they were also not sure if they could trust them.

"And what's in it for you?" Esheel asked. "I find it hard to believe that you want to help us without nothing in return" Prime said nothing…Esheel snorted, as usual her intuition was dead on, everyone wanted something even the geth was no exception. "So, what do you want?"

"It is quite simple, we request the council declare the geth as living beings…with all the rights of one" The council looked at each other with wide eyes, the geth had become much more bold now that they had reaper upgrades. It was understandable in a way, if the geth were declared living beings crimes against the geth would be punishable as if they were organics. The geth was trying to preserve themselves, understandable but this was very controversial…something that could potentially ruin their careers.

"You can't possibly be serious!" Esheel said. "The blowback would be…"

"We will think about it" Sparatus said. Tevos and Esheel looked at each other shocked. "Know that there are no promises, would you still fix the relay then?"

"Affirmative, the fact you are thinking about this have given us some hope" Prime said. "All we wish is to live in peace, like any other life, thank you for your time Councilors" The comm went off.

_**Alliance HQ-London**_

While three of the Councilors were surveying the damage of the Citadel, Councilor Osoba was with what remains of the Alliance higher up on what to do next. Anderson was in the meeting bored as hell, he wished he was out there with his men actually doing something constructive…he groaned softly, it felt like when he was councilor on the Citadel. The Councilor started to talk and Anderson snapped to attention.

"How are we on medical for our civilians?" Osoba asked.

"Not going to lie… Councilor, not looking good..." There was holographic image of the city of London. "The reapers had wiped out most of our medical facilities, right now the make-shift clinics have to little people to deal with the injured"

"I talked to our allies, some of them are willing to take our injured for treatment" Hackett said.

"What about the Citadel? It has more than enough clinics to treat the civilians, not to mention we can relocate them until we can get some shelters up and running" Anderson said.

Osoba nodded. "Good idea, Admiral…I will talk with the other Councilors went I meet up with them" he said. "Also with Sol relay down for the moment, our Turian and Quarian allies are requesting to use our food-processing plants to feed their people" A female soldier spoke up.

"But we need those plants to feed our own; can't they just use one of those Quarian liveships?"

"Unfortunately, most of the quarian liveships stayed behind on Rannoch with their civilians, there are not enough to feed all of the quarian and turian fleets" Hackett said. "Primarch Victus is aware of our needs, and promised to take the bare minimal as to not affect our people"

"We also have some reports of tension in the north between some civilians and some of the Krogan….it had gotten so bad that it almost started a firefight" one of the Admirals said. "An Urdnot Wrex said he would get his people under control, but I doubt it, permission to send soldiers to the area to keep order"

Anderson frowned. "Absolutely not! You send soldiers there and all you will do is make that situation worse" he said. "Let give Wrex a chance to calm the situation down"

The man snorted and crossed his arms. "Calm the situation? He's Krogan, what makes you think he'll actually do it?"

"Wrex is a former member of Commander Shepherd's crew, and considers him a blood brother"

"And what does that have to with anything?"

"It is a big deal in Krogan culture; it is absolute loyalty to one another, Wrex will keep his people in line because anything less will harm that bond" Hackett said. "Not to mention, they not going to run the ire of the man who cured the Genophage for them"

"I agree with them…" Osoba said. "Soldiers are just going to make thing more complicated than it needs to be, and if you believe Urdnot Wrex with keep them in line we'll allow this to work itself out" The Admiral had no more objections. "Now moving on to the children…."

_**The Normandy-London**_

The streets of London were abuzz with sound of music, laughing and singing. Although the city was still rubble from the war, that didn't stop the celebrations. Soldiers were around the festivities joining in on the fun with the civilians though must were watching from afar trying to keep order. Shepherd gave the rest of the crew a day off to have a little fun, the spectre knew they needed it for all the hard work they've done. When news got out that the crew of the Normandy was coming, the crew was met with a round of applause, the soldier all stood at attention with a salute.

The festivities continued, Shepherd down in the back with Tali next to him with her head on his shoulder. They watched as James pulled Lia to the dance floor joining Jacob and Miranda off to the side was Kaiden with Cortez…Kaiden must had said something amusing because Cortez was smiling before he pulled the spectre in for a kiss. The spectre was just content, no reapers, no Cerberus, sure most cities on Earth was rubble from the war but right now all was right. "Hello Shepherd"

Shepherd turned his head and saw Rael and some quarians. "Rael, hey, how are things going?"

"Fine, fine…I just got back from reactivating the geth" he said sitting next to his daughter. "The geth have decided to stay in space, they said they wanted to start the work on the relay"

"Well, that's good…how long till they get it done?" Tali asked.

"In a couple of months they say, if we're lucky they might be able to fix it before the year is through"

"So, we'll be back on Rannoch in no time" Shepherd said with a smile. Rael looked at him.

"You're coming with us?" he asked.

"Of course, you weren't the only one who promised to build a house for Tali and well…"

"Wayne and I are getting married!" Tali said excitedly. Tali showed her father the ring she had on, Rael at first looked surprised but then his features soften to a small smile. Three years ago he would have objected to such a union, but now after everything his daughter went through, after everything he put Tali through…he was happy that Tali found happiness. He looked at the couple and tears formed in his eyes…they reminded him so much of himself and his wife Ziva, how much they were in love with each other. "Father?"

"Shepherd, Tali…you have my blessing" Rael said. "But promise me one thing…promise me that you will never lose the love you have now"

"If Ziva was still alive, she would have been glad to meet you Shepherd and I know she would have approved also" Tali gave her father a hug, Shepherd smiled and took his fiancé's hand…Tali looked at him as he pulled her up and to the middle of the festival. The music and dancing stopped as everyone were wondering what the Commander was doing.

Shepherd gripped Tali's hand. "Everyone, this war has brought so much pain and destruction…I had to deal with a lot of that also" he said. "But as I look around, at the people around us, all I see is hope and a brighter future than the one before" He looked at Tali smiling, with the quarian blushing. "My future is right here standing next me, this is Tali'Zorah Vas Rannoch, a member of my ground team, my ship's engineer, and my future wife" The Normandy crew looked at their Commander and cheered for the couple, then the crowd started to cheer at the announcement. Tali looked around surprised at the amount of people giving them their approval, of course there were some that didn't looked too happy about it, but they were the minority. They walked back to their sport, were the ground team swarmed them, giving their congratulations…Shepherd gazed at Kaiden and he was leaning against a wall nodding with a smirk.

Tali looked at him. "Are you sure about this, Wayne?"

"I'm sure, Rookie, for the longest time I've been doing things for other people…this time I'm doing things for me and for me I'm telling the world that I'm marrying the woman I love" he said. "Fuck the critics" Tali smiled and they saw Rael walk up to them.

"So have you two made any plans?" he asked.

"Nothing now, but I was thinking maybe a quarian wedding…"

_**See you Next time! As always Review and Comment! Got a request for the story? PM on my profile!**_


	5. Chapter 5: The Horde

**Chapter 5: The Horde**

_**London-Earth**_

Lia was walking around the city on a shopping errand for Rupert; he was going to the shelters later today to help the displaced civilians. It's been a month and a half since the war ended and things were starting to go back to normalcy, the city was still recovering but it was no longer the disaster area that it was in the war. The first thing was rebuilt was residential area, slowly but surely civilians were turning to their home making things easy on supplies. The next thing that was rebuilt were finance and shopping areas to let trade flow again…though it was not much considering the other cities on Earth were either in the same boat or worse off than London. The biggest change however happened at the site of the final push of the war; the Alliance built a facility around the conduit for faster travel to the Citadel, although they had to change the coordinates so they would arrive in the Wards instead of the Keeper vats…the Alliance and the Council didn't agree on a lot of things but the one thing they did agree on was that public didn't need to see what was there.

Even now Shepherd, Kaiden, and Tali refused to speak of what they saw down in vats. As for the Citadel itself, the galaxy's best minds were still trying to find a way to bring the station back to the Widow system, but the answer on how to do that had eluded them as they couldn't figure out how Cerberus was able to move the station to the Sol system under everyone's nose. Until they could find the answer, the station was stuck…much to the chagrin of the Alliance higher-ups, as was becoming a new rallying cry for the Terra Firma Party. Lia was done with her shopping errand and was heading back to Rupert, until she stopped at one building. The Reaper War Memorial building….a place to honor the civilians and Soldiers that lost their lives in the war. The building was packed as usual…even a month and a half after the war more and more names were being added to Memorial walls as the surveyors were finding more of the dead as the rebuilt the city. She went inside and paid her respects before she continued on her way.

"Ow watch it!" Lia turned her head at the sound, and turned the corner to see James with his shirt off and a batarian behind him with a needle device and an annoyed look on his face.

"I would be more careful, if you were more still human" the batarian said. Since the end of the war, a lot of the batarians had decided to relocate on Earth seeing with the Hegemony gone, they were now free from Khar'shan oppressive caste system. Though it wasn't without its problems, considering the history between humans and the batarians and it certainly didn't help that a self-confessed terrorist and human hater was among them and haven't punished because of his status as a 'high ranking official'

"Jimmy?" James looked at his girlfriend and smiled.

"Hey Lola, what brings you down here?"

"I'm doing an errand for Rupert; he's cooking at the civilian shelter"

James shuddered. "_Dios bendiga su alma"_

Lia tilted her head. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"Just a little prayer for when they have the runs…." He said grimly.

"So what you doing?" Lia asked.

James grinned. "Getting a tattoo, a gift to me before training starts"

"So when does your training start?" she asked sitting next to him.

He sighed. "Well if the geth keep going at the rate their going, I should start training soon" Lia looked at him strange, he was waiting awfully long time, it could be months or years before the Sol Relay was fixed when he could start his training now on Earth. "I asked Hackett to transfer me to the Terra Nova facility; after all I made a promise to you rebuild the commune"

Lia blushed. "James, you don't have to…I don't want you miss out on your training for my sake"

James smiled. "I want to, really I'm doing this because I want to be with you"

She smiled. "Sweet talker…" The buzzing of the tattoo needle stopped and James paid the man. He got his shirt and put it on, and cringed a bit. "What's wrong?"

"Stings a little, glad the reapers are gone otherwise it would be hell to fight in" James heard a drip and looked down at the bag. "Uh, Lola…your bag is dripping…"

"Hm?" She looked down. "Oh Keelah! The frozen gas bag livers….I got to go James, see you later!" Lia ran away leaving, James shuddered again; he could only imagine what Rupert was thinking up in his twisted mind. Now that his tattoo was done, he wondering what to get into…things for the most part had been quiet other than the occasional raids by the husks. He walked down the street to look at his options, there wasn't much since most of the city was destroyed. He could go the Citadel; he did want to try that new Armax Arena on the wards. Just as he was about to make his decision, he heard gunfire and screaming up ahead.

"What the hell?" James asked with a frown. James ran to the source of the disturbance, he had his pistol ready. His eyes went wide as he saw the carnage ahead of them, there was a large group of husks slaughtering the running civilians, Alliance and Citadel soldiers were trying to fight back but the husks swarmed. There was something strange about the husks, they were organized not the feral creatures they were since the reapers defeat, James activated his Fortification barrier and loaded his Incendiary Ammo as he went into battle. He shot two husks in the head, and they exploded. He moved beside a soldier he saved and they moved to cover. "You okay?"

"Yes, thanks" he breathlessly. He looked at James and his eyes went wide. "Y…You're…"

"Yes, I'm with Commander Shepherd…focus, what's your status?" James asked.

"O…Oh right, the husks they just attacked us out of nowhere" the soldier said. He shook his head. "We usually can hear them coming…but…" A bullet hit the edge of their cover and they ducked. "Shit, I thought that weapon took care of all of them…"

"No use worrying now…call for reinforcements, I'll help your guys out" The soldier nodded as James got out of cover; he joined the blockade the soldiers made to keep the husks out. James looked around as he moved to cover; so many dead and the husks weren't attacking each other but attacking like a cohesive unit which they haven't seen since the war. He rose out of cover and shot three cannibals, but took a bullet in the shoulder, he went back to cover…just a graze, he really wished he had his armor now. He felt a splash of warm liquid on his arm; he looked beside him and saw an Alliance solider with his head split open from a bullet. "Damn, where's that reinforcement?"

He heard another shot behind him, the soldier he was just talking to was dead on the floor and above the body was a Wraith. It looked like at James, almost as if was mocking him as it warped to the top of the body. "Grenade!" The explosion knocked the soldiers back, James' shield sparked and crackled as it was trying to reboot. The soldier saw the husk break the blockade and at attacked the downed soldiers, mauling them. Two husks rushed James, he shot two of them in the head and got off the ground…he needed to some distance. He made his way to an alleyway and leaned against the wall panting, he needed help…he activated his omni-tool.

"Loco, husks attacking…soldiers and civilians dead, too many of them come…" He heard a beep below him. He looked down. "Shit…"

_**The Normandy**_

Shepherd was in the hangar bay with Urz, throwing a cast iron ball for the varren to fetch. A varren's teeth were fifty times stronger than the biggest dog on Earth, which meant regular pet toys were out of the question. It was quiet on the Normandy, most of the crew were out enjoying their day off while a skeleton crew stayed back to maintain the ship. The ground team was also enjoying their day off too…well, except Tali, she was currently at the Citadel trying to get an audience with the Council. Now that the Quarians had Rannoch back, the first thing they needed to do was to establish trade routes for their homeworld. Shepherd wished her luck, because it wasn't going to be easy. Urz fetched the ball with his tail wagging happily, the varren was quite happy to have his master's attention back and Shepherd was happy to give it.

Shepherd reached for the ball, and the varren's drool dripped off like molasses. Shepherd shook his hand with threw varren saliva all over Cortez's workstation…he'll clean that up later. "Alright boy, ready?" Urz wagged his tail in anticipation but his disappointment came when Shepherd's omni-tool rang. "Who's calling me? Huh, I wonder what Vega want?"

"Loco, husks attacking…soldiers and civilians dead, too many of them come…" A beep and an explosion ended the call. Shepherd dropped the ball, Vega was in trouble…he called up any ground team members.

"Cortez"

"Yes, Commander?" he asked.

"Is Kaiden with you?" Shepherd asked.

"Wayne? What is it?" Kaiden asked.

"I need you both to come back to the Normandy, Vega's in trouble" Shepherd said. "Call any of the ground team for assistance"

"Right, on our way"

_**London**_

James was exhausted, he was all alone in fighting the husks…he hoped his message came through. He could hear the husks coming closer, he checked his pistol…he had a small charge left. He could just leave the area, but the husks would overrun the area before the Alliance and the Citadel could react. He took a deep breath, and went out of cover and shot the husks, they attacked and James fell back, picking and choosing his targets. He turned the corner and a Marauder was waiting for him, his eyes went wide, did the husks knew where he was and was just playing with him? The turian husk fired at him and James moved down another alley but not before a round struck him in the upper right of his chest, non-fatal but it would slow him down.

"Shit, got to get out of here…got to…" Out of nowhere from the left, the large soldier was slammed hard against the wall by a brute. He tried to get up, but he was too tired…his vision was getting blurry and darkness came….The husks surrounded him, this was their chance to kill the soldier but stopped…and one of them spoke…

"This one was troublesome…we kill now" the brute said. The brute raised its arm and was about to impale James but the Marauder stopped it. "Why stop kill?"

"I recognize this one…he is a follower of the Great Sinner"

The brute growled. "Follower of the Great Sinner, then we kill now!"

"No, bring back to Sister, the Great Sinner always comes back for Follower" it said. "Patience Brother, we will avenge the old ones soon enough" The brute grabbed the knocked out James and disappeared from wounded battlefield. Much later, a Kodiak landed in the same area.

"My God, what a mess…" Kaiden said. "The husks came in force" They began searching for James but didn't find him until Garrus called out for Shepherd and Kaiden. "Oh no…" Shepherd leaned in and saw a bloody piece of James' shirt, and a blood trail. They followed the trail and it led to the entrance of the London subway system.

"Call it in…" Shepherd said. "Call everyone available, the husks has our boy"

_**A team member held captive, Shepherd declares war! Next Time! Review and Comment! If you have a request, PM on my profile!**_


	6. Chapter 6: The Sister

**Chapter 6: The Sister**

_**London Underground**_

The London Underground a public rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and parts of the home counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. Opened in the 19th century, it was the world's first underground railway…for three hundred and twenty years it had served the people of London. Now the once proud tunnels were nothing but ruins thanks to the reapers and to add insult to injury it was now infested with husks. Muddy water dripped from the pipe and splashed on to James' face, the large human stirred awake…his vision blurry, when he awoke a surge of pain hit him hard. The smell of blood was in the air…his blood, he moved his arms and legs but found them bound, he couldn't move…from what little light he had through the cracks he saw cuts and bruises on him.

He then heard a giggle in the darkness which James looked around; appearing right in his face was a Wraith. "The follower is awake…the sinner is awake, Sister come quick" With another demented giggle the Wraith disappeared and reappeared on the side as footsteps came closer. A Marauder and Brute came in first and joined the Wraith, the salarian husk was still giggling while the Brute just looked at James and growled…the human looked at its claw, it was very twitchy as if the brute couldn't wait to disembowel him. The Marauder was a little calmer than the brute, but from the looks of its finger on the trigger…it wanted to do some damage. James heard more footsteps and a banshee came in, as soon as it saw James it gave a furious shriek and warped. Its hand impaled the wall close to James' head as it gave a piercing glared at the soldier.

"Wicked, wicked sinner…you killed the old ones, killed them!" the banshee screamed at him. "You and the other sinners took them away and LEFT US WITH NOTHING!" The banshee opened her claws and struck at James, just stopping at his Adam's apple. James swallowed hard but then heard the banshee gave the most demented laugh, it chilled his spine.

"What are you? How can you husks talk?" James asked.

"When you sinners killed the old one, the lesser of our brethren went feral and attacked everything in sight" the Marauder explained. "While some of the higher ones like ourselves, grew intelligence"

The brute growled. "At price, we aware of the old one's absence…left emptiness" it said. "Salvation gone!"

The wraith giggled. "No salvation, just emptiness…"

"You and the other sinners left us with nothing…and so we will leave the sinners with nothing" the banshee said. "Starting with the Great Sinner…Shepherd…" She laughed darkly. "We hate all sinners, but the Great Sinner…oh the suffering we shall inflict on him" James just gave weak chuckle, it hurt to laugh but he couldn't help it. The banshee shrieked in rage. "Why do you laugh?!"

"You're going to kill Loco? That's a laugh…just because you say so, don't make it true" James said with a smirk. "All you'll be is just another addition to his body count, just like the reapers…" The banshee dug its claw into James' wounded abdomen; the large human groaned in pain…he refused to yell out; he won't give the monsters the satisfaction.

"You will not speak of the old ones, sinner! Unclean filth is not worthy!" the banshee said furiously. The Marauder came up and grabbed the banshee's arm.

"Stay your hand, Sister…we still need the follower to lure the Great Sinner" it said. The banshee hissed and relented, it pulled up James' head so the human was looking right at it.

"You will not die, not yet…not before you see your master die" the banshee said coldly. James head dropped down as his vision became blurry as the husks walked down the tunnels.

"Lia…" he said before he saw darkness.

_**The Normandy**_

Back on the Normandy, Liara and Miranda were in the cargo hold getting their weapons ready for when they joined Shepherd. Jacob was in the comm room getting in touch with Jack and Grunt; they needed all the help they could get. From the map they received from Anderson, the London Underground was vast…there was no telling how many husks were waiting down there. The Elevator opened and Kasumi came out, she went to the weapons bench without so much as a chat or a quip.

"How is Lia, Kasumi?" Liara asked.

"Worried sick…I hate seeing her like this, I swear when we get James, I'll kick his ass" Kasumi said. "I mean, why didn't he just retreat when he could have? We could have wiped them out together"

"It was either let the husks continue into the city unopposed or continue to fight…he was doing what we all would've done" Miranda said. "Still, what Garrus and Kaiden said disturbed me…the husks had been feral since the end of the war, to capture someone would require intelligence…"

Liara frowned. "You don't think the husks are like EDI and Geth, do you?"

"Let's hope not…we barely survived one war…"

_**London-Subway**_

The rest of the ground team met Shepherd, Garrus, and Kaiden at the entrance. Before they left, Anderson and Hackett was informed of the situation…they were gathering all available troops. Shepherd ordered EDI to do a scan for James' omni-tool…after a few blips she was able to find James' location.

"Oh dear…" EDI gasped.

"What is it?" Shepherd asked.

"James' vital signs are unstable…he's been heavily wounded, we must hurry and get to him" she said. Shepherd nodded, and ordered the team into the tunnels, Tali opened her map of the Underground…strangely enough the London Underground was probably one of the least damaged sites in the city. But it was possibly due to the fact that it was underground and it could be used as an advantage to maneuver against the enemy. The team turned on their flashlights the deeper they went in to the tunnels; there was no sign of any husks…not even a growl this was making them nervous. While they heading for James' location, unknown to them a sentry was following them.

"The Great Sinner has come…he's come…" The team reaches a fork in the tunnels.

"Which way, EDI?" Shepherd asked.

"I'm scanning now…that's strange…" EDI said.

"What is?" Tali asked.

"James' omni-tool signal has disappeared…last I check he hasn't moved so how?" EDI's eyes went wide. "Multiple life forms coming towards us!" The team got out their weapons, as they heard the growls of husks, the first thing to come from right tunnel was a light blue shockwave.

"Move!" The team scattered. The husks charged at team Garrus, Kaiden, and Liara set up a suppressing fire to deal with the approaching enemy. Miranda, Tali, and Jacob dealt with the scion dodging their shockwaves, another shockwave was thrown. Miranda stopped and activated her tech shield creating cover to block for Tali and Jacob…the quarian summoned Chattika to get the Scion's attention while Jacob charged at the Scion. The large husk was about to fire on Jacob until he slammed his fist on the floor. In the distance, in the shadows the sentry was watching the whole thing. EDI activated her decoys; the husks became distracted while Kasumi captured them with a submission net, Shepherd glowed blue and threw a warp field making them explode in a bloody faction. EDI then looked down the left tunnel.

"EDI, what is it?" Kasumi asked.

"James' signal is back, the left tunnel" she said.

"Right, you guys hear that?" Shepherd asked. Kaiden mowed down the husks with his assault rifle, another one comes close and the spectre hits the human husk with the butt of his gun.

"Yeah, go on…we'll catch up!" Kaiden said. A voice was heard in the darkness.

"No you will not!" it said in a giggle. Kaiden looked up as he saw the silver shimmer of a Wraith's sentry…then out of the darkness came a whole swarm of them.

"Kaiden!" Shepherd said. The spectre rushed to his friend until he was blocked by a purple barrier. "Damn it! A barrier engine, here?!" Another barrier formed at Tali, Miranda, and Jacob's location only leaving the left path opened. Shepherd tried to find the engines but couldn't find it…

"Wayne, get going, find James!" Kaiden said.

"But…"

"We'll be fine, jiwa…we'll join you soon" Tali said fighting off the husks. Shepherd was reluctant to leave but ultimately left them to look for James. A sentry followed Shepherd, Kasumi, and EDI.

A giggle was heard. "The Great Sinner is separated from some of his followers, his followers are swarmed." The wraith said. "Easy prey, brothers…."

"We crush Great Sinner now?" the brute said.

"Leave him for Sister…we kill followers" the marauder said. "Send lesser ones, overwhelm and devastate follows"

"Once done, bring followers body back to Sister…The Great Sinner shall know despair as we do" The Marauder and brute walked down the tunnels to face Shepherd's team, the Wraith just giggled in the darkness…the brothers might miss Shepherd's death but it wouldn't…the sentry was its eyes, seeing Sister maiming Shepherd made it shudder in excitement. Shepherd, Kasumi and EDI went down the tunnel; they were getting close to James…though the team was also worried about their teammates. The husks had completely caught them off-guard, but the husks that they faced were still feral but had a lot more direction, like the reapers were controlling them.

"Keep your eye peeled everyone…no telling what surprises they have for us…" Shepherd said. EDI led the team to James' location, on the way they fought more husks, abomination came charging in. The team had to be careful on how they killed the husk, the area they were in was unstable and an explosion would bring the ceiling down around their ears. EDI summoned her decoys to distract the bring husks; Kasumi used her flashbangs to stun them while Shepherd shot them in the heads, careful to not trigger an explosion. After the battle was done, they were followed by more human husks rushing them. Shepherd and Kasumi pulled up their omni-tools and stunned the group with an overload while EDI burned them with an incineration blast ending the fight.

"Shepherd" EDI said. The spectre came close to her. "The signal is coming from this maintenance shaft, we're on top of him" Shepherd nodded and the team went down the ladder, it was very dark and only crack from outside and the spark of electronics formed light in this room. Shepherd and Kasumi turned on their lights which scattered the rats making a living these tunnels.

"Oh god…James!" Kasumi said running towards the large man. James was bound crucifix style, his body was full of cuts and bruises, his shirt was torn, dirty and full of blood. There was a deep gash in his abdomen where most of the blood was coming from. "EDI, is he…?"

"No…he is alive, but he has lost a lot blood…we should patch him up before go" she said. Shepherd extended his omni-blade to cut James down, as his legs and arms were free, they him carefully down and applied medi-gel. James stirred…and he woke up feeling pain.

"Loco…"

"Take it easy, Vega…we'll get you back safely" Shepherd said.

"Loco, it's a trap…the husks they…" Before James could finish his sentence, a blue blur hit Shepherd against the wall.

"We finally have you…The Great Sinner dies now!"

Shepherd eyes went wide. "You can talk…?" He saw as the banshee opened its claw and with blood-chilling shriek was about impale Shepherd. The spectre unfolded his blade and stabbed the asari-husk in the eye causing it to shriek in pain. The banshee let go of Shepherd and the spectre glowed blue, and gave a strong biotic blast to the husks stomach sending it backwards into a wall. "Get Vega and let's go!" EDI and Kasumi nodded, EDI grabbed James and placed him over her shoulder while exiting the room. Kasumi and Shepherd closely followed, the spectre saw the husk moving and threw a grenade back at it and then followed Kasumi and EDI.

The rubble shifted and an angry scream was heard. "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE, YOU WILL NOT DENY US YOUR SUFFERING!"

_**The Chase begins! Next Time! Got a request? PM me! Review and Comment!**_


	7. Chapter 7: Counterattack

_**I Apologize for getting this chapter out so late, things have been busy at my school...trying to finish a class project. Anyway here's a new chapter and enjoy! If you got feedback let me know!**_

**Chapter 7: Counterattack**

_**London Underground-Kaiden's team**_

The sentries swarmed Liara, Garrus, and Kaiden, the asari created a barrier to guard the group from the endless bombardment of the drones. Husks and Cannibals kept attacking them, trying to flank them from the sides…so far Garrus and Kaiden were keeping them back but there were too many of them and they would be out of heat sinks soon. Then several shots rang out, a silver device came in and consumed the husks in flames, the husks responded to new threat… it was coming from the entrance.

Kaiden smirked. "About time, they made it" From the entrance was Zaeed and Samara and some soldiers Anderson lent them. The husks and Cannibals did not stand a chance; Zaeed took charge of the soldiers and ordered them to open fire as Samara gracefully took out a few husks with her biotics. Kaiden and the others joined in the fight.

_**Tali's Team**_

Further in the tunnels, Tali, Miranda, and Jacob were surrounded by scions and abominations. Tali used her drone to distract the scions so Miranda could go in and take them out with her flamer tech. Jacob charged the Abomination and blew them back with a Nova before they exploded. Once they were down, they heard a thud from further down the tunnel…from the corner was a brute with more Scions and Abominations, behind it was Praetorian. But that wasn't the surprise, what was the surprise was what was coming from the brute. "Kill the followers, bring their heads to me!"

"A husk that can talk?!" Miranda said shocked. Miranda pulled up her shield as another Scion shot out a shockwave. Tali summoned her defense drone to cover her flank and charged her shotgun, killing the some of the Scions. Jacob fired off his shotgun at the approaching Abomination; he used Nova to keep them from getting close. The biotic felt rumblings as the talking brute was charging at him.

Jacob glowed blue. "Bring it, you son of a bitch!" Jacob charged at the brute, he was confident that he could topple the large husk as he done before, but to his surprise the brute showed to have alarming speed as it sidestepped him and rammed him into the wall knocking his breath out.

"Jacob!" The Cannibals took another shot at Miranda, forcing her to get behind her shield. Tali directed Chittika at the brute, the drone orbit around the large husk shocking it, and firing rockets at it. The brute dropped Jacob and grabbed Chittika, the biotic got out-of-the-way as the combat drone exploded in the husk's hand. Tali's eyes could only grow wide as the smoke cleared and the brute stood there unfazed but also pissed, the brute charged mowing down its fellow husks heading for Tali. A blue shockwave followed by an orb of light hit the brute hard, then a voice spoke out.

"Alright kids, kick their asses!"

"Arlakh Company, move out!" The group looked back to see Jack and her students with Grunt and Arlakh Company. The krogan came in charging the husks while Jack's students stood back as support. The brute came back up.

"The Great Sinner has brought more followers?" it then growled. "It matters not, they die as well" Grunt smirked and charged the brute.

"Ooh, I've never killed a husk that could talk before!" the krogan said giddily.

"Grunt, watch it, that brute is tough!" Jacob said.

"So am I…I AM KROGAN!" Grunt raised his Claymore and fired making the brute stagger back, the large husk raised its arm to slam Grunt into the ground but the young krogan was too fast and rammed it headlong causing the brute to topple. Jack grabbed a Cannibal with her biotic lash and threw the batarian husk back at its allies and wiped them out with a shockwave. Arlakh Company surrounds the Praetorian wearing it down with incendiary rounds while Jack's students pelted it with biotic fields. The brute grabbed Grunt and threw him back; the krogan landed on his feet and fired a concussive shot at brute staggering the large husk. A blue blur came from behind the krogan and hit the brute hard dead center in the chest causing some of its armor to crack. Jacob charged his fist and slammed it down into the crack, causing it to get bigger and the biotic got clear as Tali and Miranda opened fired, overwhelming the brute.

The brute fell backwards with a thud, the husk died…the first of the talking husks was dead.

_**Shepherd's Team**_

On the other side of the tunnels, Shepherd, EDI, and Kasumi was hiding out from the husks. With James in the shape he was in, they couldn't go out and fight like they could without putting the large human in danger. The husks ran past them, it seems they were preoccupied with things other than them. A blue glow appeared, and an angry scream was heard…it was the banshee but it didn't see them. Shepherd leaned closer to the edge to scout, a silver drone appeared in front of the banshee…a Wraith's sentry but it was much fatter.

"Have you found the Great Sinner?" the banshee asked.

"No, Great Sinner not found…brother dead" An image appeared, it was Tali's team along with Jack and Grunt, on the ground not far from them was a brute motionless on the ground. Shepherd noticed the husk's unity was breaking down, allowing Tali and the others to wipe them out. Without the intelligent husks to guide them, they were nothing more than wild animals. The spectre's snapped to attention when he heard the angry shriek.

"They killed brother….they will pay, THEY WILL PAY!" the banshee said. The Banshee warped down the tunnel, not noticing Shepherd and the team's presence.

Kasumi sighed. "I guess we should count ourselves lucky the husks have such a one track mind" James groaned and the thief took a look at him, she placed her hand on his forehead. "Oh crap…Wayne, we need to get James out of here…he starting to get a fever, Wayne?" Shepherd came behind the sentry and used his overload to drop the drone; he picked it up and came back to Kasumi and EDI.

"EDI, can you scan this? Locate the Wraith?" EDI grabbed the drone and analyzed it while Shepherd went to check on James. "How are we on medi-gel, cuz?"

"Not much left, if we run into more husk, we'll be in trouble…" Kasumi said.

Shepherd frowned. "Not mention we'll end up putting Vega in danger…we need to get him out of here, then we can come back and help the others" EDI spoke up.

"Shepherd, it is done…I have located the Wraith"

"Where is it?"

EDI pulled up the map. "In a ruined part of the subway, Kaiden's team is the closest to the location" she said. "Sending it now, I've also warned Tali's team of the banshee" Shepherd nodded as he opened his omni-tool to find an exit that had less resistance from the husks. He and Kasumi grabbed James while EDI was on the lookout for enemies.

_**Kaiden's Team**_

The last husk went down with a thud, the husks stopped coming for now but they would come back in stronger numbers than before. Kaiden's omni-tool beeped and the spectre opened it, it was from Shepherd…they had James, but he was heavily wounded and heading for the surface. Another file was attached to the message, it was an updated map of the subway tunnels…and it pointed to a closed off area not too far from them. There was Wraith there that was keeping tabs on them, and it was one of the talking husks that Tali's team encountered. With the Wraith's surveillance disabled, they break more of the husk's game plan.

"So what are we going to do Alenko?" Zaeed asked. "We meeting up with the lass' group?"

Kaiden shook his head. "No, we're going hunting for a Wraith, Wayne said that its one of those intelligent husks" he said. "Let's go, and keep your eyes peeled…we don't know what surprises it will have for us…." The team headed for the location, as they were getting close to the Wraith's location they were being swarmed by husks and abominations….this was no coincidence the Wraith knew they were coming. "Zaeed, Garrus we need covering fire!" Garrus and Alliance troops formed a wall and shot the incoming husks. Zaeed threw out an inferno grenade furthering breaking the line. Out of the smoke came sentries, the drones took down some of the Alliance Soldiers…Kaiden, Liara, and Samara from a biotic barrier to protect against the drones while the soldiers shot them out of the sky.

"Kaiden we need to hurry, the Wraith could use this moment to escape" Samara said. Kaiden nodded, they took down another group of drones and went in deeper in to the tunnel. When they made to the Wraith's location…it was empty, the husk was not there.

"What the…I thought boss said it in this area?" Garrus asked.

"It's here, the signal is saying we are right on top of the Wraith…it doesn't…" A shot echoed in the room, killed another of the Alliance Soldiers. "Goddess, get to cover!" The team went to cover as more and more shots rang out, the salarian husk was cloaked while trying to pick off the team one by one. More sentries came out to overwhelm the group, Liara used her singularity field to trap the drones and Kaiden knocked it down with a Reave. Another shot, this time way too close to Liara's head. "They keep coming!"

"Alenko! Northwest of your postion!" Zaeed said. Kaiden saw the vague outline in the corner of the ceiling to the left.

"Liara, Samara cover us! Everyone else, open fire!" Liara and Samara formed a big biotic barrier to cover them while everyone else open fired. The outline jumped from wall to wall trying to get behind their defenses. The sentries changed up and clustered together to focus at the weakest point of the barrier, Liara raised her arm to reinforce the barrier. Samara glowed brilliantly and extended the barrier and enveloped the sentries causing them to overload. Kaiden threw out warp field after warp field to trip up the Wraith.

They heard a giggle. "Never catch me, followers too slow…much too slow" the Wraith said. "You die now!" Zaeed and Garrus looked at each other as they loaded their disruptor ammo, Garrus for the outline and fired a concussive shot at the Wraith. The salarian husk giggled, it could easily dodge that no problem but it didn't see another concussive shot just ahead of it. It dodged the turian's round but was hit dead on the chest of the Wraith. The disruptor loaded round short circuited the husk's cloaking and stunned it.

"Open fire!" Kaiden barked. The team fired on the Wraith, each round tearing the husk to shreds until it fell with a thud…another one of the talking husks was dead.

_**Tali's team**_

The surveillance sentries of the Wraith all fell, the husk's network was crumbling slowly but surely. The husks became more and more disorganized as two of the leaders were now dead, the intelligent husk's control was now spread thin. Tali, receiving information from EDI that the talking banshee was on its way towards their location, set up a wall ready to take on the banshee and its horde. Arlakh Company growled in anticipation of the fight the asari husk was about the bring, Jack's students were in the back finishing up their energy drinks and juice to replenish their stamina, Tali summoned Chattika and her defense drone. The drone went down the tunnel to scout up the tunnels, as it reached a turn…the team could see the shadow of a Praetorian flash on the wall behind Chattika. And then came the scream, as an explosion was seen, Chattika was destroyed and blue light turned the corner.

"Get ready everyone!" Tali said. Husks ran towards them…

_**Two down and Two to go! Next time! Have a request? PM me! As always review and comment!**_


	8. Chapter 8: Fall of the Horde

**Chapter 8: Fall of the Horde**

_**London**_

Outside of the subway tunnels, Cortez was in the shuttle heading for Shepherd's coordinates flying as fast he could. As he was coming close to the coordinates, the alarms and interments went crazy. "What the…?" Cortez checked the radar, something was coming towards him…something big, the blip came into view and a red flash of energy came towards him at high-speed.

"Whoa!" Cortez swerved, almost losing control of the shuttle. Another flash, but the pilot was ready and dodged the blast, Cortez magnified the camera to spot his attacker. A harvester…an enemy he haven't seen since the war, then they filled the skies shooting down ships and dropping off troops and they were deadly efficient at it too. Since the Crucible fired, a lot of them were wiped out…they weren't the danger they were in the war but that didn't mean Cortez would let down his guard. Cortez loaded the guns and fired at the worm-neck, and the harvester responded in kind, it then pursued him firing at Cortez. The pilot bobbed and weaved dodging the harvester's fire; he then ducked down as the large husk moved forward and fired when he got behind it.

The harvester turned sharply to the left, and Cortez had to pull up quickly or crash into a ruined building. Cortez checked his camera's to find the worm-neck; it was nowhere to be seen, the pilot did a scan before the shuttle shook, the Harvester was right on top of him. "Crap…sorry Commander, looks like I'm going to be late…" Cortez moved the shuttle and the dog fight continued.

_**London Underground-Shepherd's team**_

Shepherd looked around the corner and saw some husks and Cannibals past, they were close to the exit and so far they've avoided the enemies with ease. With the intelligent banshee facing Tali's team, the husks were mostly concerned with the quarian's team. Shepherd was quite worried about the others but with reinforcement they would be fine, right now they had to get James out of here. Once the husks past them, they went forward, they could see the red-orange light of the sun shining on the walls…they were in the tunnels longer than they thought it was close to sundown.

Shepherd heard James groan behind him, the spectre looked back. "How you doing, Vega?"

"Fine Loco, don't worry about me" James said. "Sorry I put you guys through this…"

"Don't worry about it, I think worked out…we would have never out about these husks otherwise" Shepherd said. "Besides, save that apology for Lia…" James was silent for a little while.

"How is she?" he asked reluctantly.

"Worried sick about you" Kasumi said. "I'd kick your ass right not but the husks did that job for me" James looked remorseful and Kasumi just sighed. "After this you have plenty of time of thinking how you're going to make it up to her"

"Right" The team was close to the exit until they heard growling around them. Shepherd, Kasumi, and EDI got their weapons out.

"Damnnit…I thought we were past the brunt of the husks…" Shepherd said. "EDI, do a scan" EDI nodded and her visor glowed.

"There are several Cannibals, Abominations, and two Scions up ahead" she said. "A Marauder is leading them" James spoke up.

"A Marauder…that's one of the intelligent husks…"

Shepherd sighed. "Fucking great…anything about this guy?"

"No, unlike its bat-shit 'siblings' the Marauder didn't talk much" James said. "But that thing is probably more dangerous than all of them, I couldn't put my finger on it but the way it didn't spaz out into insane gibberish makes me think it's the most intelligent of them all" Shepherd signaled his team to the side, James was sat down behind rubble out of sight…since he couldn't fight he would only be a liability to them. Shepherd reached into his pouch and got out three remaining medi-gel. "No Loco, keep them, you may need them"

"We can't leave you here with the chance that wound of yours getting infected" Shepherd said. "We'll be quick" Shepherd nodded to the others and they met with the Marauder, as they came closer the other husks were growling and hissing at them, but they didn't attack. The turian husk on the other hand was calm and composed; James may have been right when he said the Marauder was the most dangerous of them all. "Get ready for anything…"

"You have done well to make it this far" the Marauder spoke. "I see now why the Old Ones considered you such a threat"

Shepherd snorted. "Impressive complete sentences and everything, you're definitely not like the others"

"You are right, for some of us we had gain an intelligence but only in fragments as you've seen of my siblings" it said. "I am different, I had gained complete intelligence…I can even reason"

Shepherd frowned. "If you can all that, then why not take the husks and start over?" he asked.

"The emptiness would still remain, the Old Ones were our only purpose and without that we have no meaning" the Marauder said. "You and sinners like you left us with nothing and so we will return the favor…starting with you!" Shepherd and his team went to cover as the husks all attacked….

_**Tali's team**_

The surveillance sentries of the Wraith all fell, the husk's network was crumbling slowly but surely. The husks became more and more disorganized as two of the leaders were now dead, the intelligent husk's control was now spread thin. Tali, receiving information from EDI that the talking banshee was on its way towards their location, set up a wall ready to take on the banshee and its horde. Arlakh Company growled in anticipation of the fight the asari husk was about the bring, Jack's students were in the back finishing up their energy drinks and juice to replenish their stamina, Tali summoned Chattika and her defense drone. The drone went down the tunnel to scout up the tunnels, as it reached a turn…the team could see the shadow of a Praetorian flash on the wall behind Chattika. And then came the scream, as an explosion was seen, Chattika was destroyed and blue light turned the corner.

"Get ready everyone!" Tali said. Husks ran towards them, Grunt ordered Arlakh Company to charge the approaching husks. This was a good move on Grunt's part, krogan were made for short-range combat, and while they focused on the smaller husks the rest of them can take care of the Praetorian and the Banshee. Jacob and Grunt charged in mowing down the husks that went past Arlakh company, Grunt knocked one of them down with concussive shot and the rammed into them.

The Praetorian ignored the krogan and instantly went for the back ranks firing its bombs; Jack's students formed a biotic barrier to shield them while Miranda and Jack went in close attacking the crab-like husk from both sides. Miranda weakened the armor with her flamer while Jack hit it with a shockwave. They then heard the scream of the banshee, the krogan yelled charging the banshee but the asari husk just condensed its barrier…. "No! Get back!" It was too late the banshee's barrier broke sending a strong biotic wave across the tunnel, the krogan, Jacob and Grunt were on their knees weakened by the wave.

Luckily for the others, they were protected by the student's barrier, but from the look on the students it took all they had to keep it from faltering. "Don't let up!" Jack said.

"Jack behind you!" Tali said. The Praetorian lifted its arms and tried to impale the ex-con; Jack dashed behind the large husk and latched on to the Praetorian. She got out her knife and charged it with biotic energy and continually stabbed at the creature, while the Praetorian was trying to shake off Jack, Miranda and Tali opened fired careful to not hit Jack. The ex-con finally cracked the shell and sliced it open revealing the fused husks on the inside.

"Ugh, sick…you got to go!" Jack said. She dug in with her blade, holding on for dear life as the large husk shrieked. Jack was finally thrown off, Miranda hit the husk with warp field while Tali fired on the wound Jack left…after a while the beast dropped and died. Meanwhile, the weakening field dissipated and the banshee got its barrier back. Arlakh Company kept its distance pounding away at its barrier, the banshee warped and grabbed one of the krogan soldiers and held him up like a shield as it got closer. It's free hand was used to fire off its biotic blasts at the group, when the krogan was nothing but a bloody corpse it threw it away and went for its next human shield.

Slowly but sure the banshee was going through soldiers left and right. "So we got a plan to stop this thing?" Jacob asked.

"Fight harder" Grunt said simply.

"Some plan…" Jacob said dryly. "We'll never harm it with its barrier in the way, we need to break it"

"We can make it do that barrier burst again, though being on my knee is not a fun experience" Grunt said. "I hope you can hit it when the barrier is down" Jacob nodded. "Arlakh Company surround the banshee, hit it with everything you got." Grunt and his soldiers hit the banshee with bullets and concussive shot until the asari-husk started to condense the barrier. "Taylor get ready!"

With a scream, the banshee expanded its barrier…Grunt and Arlakh Company fell to their knees once again. Jacob enveloped himself in a barrier, he had to move fast as the Banshee's barrier field was degrading his own. The biotic charged at the banshee and slammed it into the wall so hard that part of the wall collapsed from the force. His fist glowed and he repeatedly punched the asari-husk's face, the banshee lifted its claw and tried to grab Jacob, he jumped back and got out his Graal Spike Thrower. He blasted the banshee multiple times until the heat sink popped out, the banshee wasn't moving anymore…Jacob didn't take any chances and reloaded his shotgun, he blasted it five more times just to be sure. Miranda and Tali walked towards him, Jacob was panting…out of breath from the fight.

"Is it dead?"

"If it's not, we're in big trouble…" Jacob said. Tali's comm opened.

"Go ahead, Kaiden"

"We're done on our side, what your status? Kaiden asked.

"We're done, too…Any news from Wayne?" She asked.

"Last I heard, he was getting James out of the tunnels after that, no" Kaiden said.

_**Shepherd's team**_

Gunshot echoed in the tunnels, as the last husk fell…the Marauder was dead now and the path was cleared to get out of the tunnel. Kasumi and EDI went back for James, and Shepherd activated his omni-tool. "Everyone, the last of the intelligent husks are dead…get to the exit" Shepherd said. "It's over" Just when he closed his omni-tool, a deep gasping laugh was heard to his side. Shepherd got his gun out and pointed at the Marauder.

"It's not over, it's never over" the Marauder said.

Shepherd frowned. "You have a bunch of holes in you, I'd say it's over" he said, "Once the Alliance and the Council gets wind of this, the subway tunnels will no longer be a safe haven for the husks"

"The Old Ones had many of their faithful throughout the galaxy, you have erased us but others will take me and my siblings place" it said. "It will never be over…not until the galaxy burns, the Old Ones demand it" Shepherd shot the Marauder in the head.

"Then you'll all die, just like your masters" Kasumi and EDI joined with Shepherd and left for the exit.

_**Outside**_

Outside of the tunnels, the Kodiak landed in front of them. "Sorry I was late, Commander, I had to lose a harvester on the way here" Cortez said. He helped James onto the shuttle, and they got on with Shepherd being the last. The spectre looked back and frowned.

_It will never be over…not until the galaxy burns, the Old Ones demand it"_ He went inside the shuttle and they flew off, back to the Normandy…

_**The Horde is defeated, but how long will the peace last? Next time! Review and Comment!**_


	9. Chapter 9: Tension

**Chapter 9: Tension**

_**The Normandy-Med-bay**_

James stirred awake in the med-bay; the large human opened his eyes and was met with bright. His nose was filled the smell of sterilized medical equipment, when he tried to get up only to feel a dull pain in his abs. He looked down, and saw his stomach stitched up…he then heard storing from the side. He saw Lia next to his bed sleeping, the door opened and Dr. Chakwas entered the room.

"Ah, Mr. Vega, you're awake" she said. "I wouldn't move around a lot, you may rip the stitches"

"Uh, yeah…how long has Lia been here?" James asked.

"Poor girl's has been overseeing your operation all night, I kept telling her to get some rest but she was more worried about you" James lowered her head in guilt; this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't underestimated the husks. The large human placed a gentle hand on her soldier, as Chakwas walked up to him. "Please stay still, Mr. Vega" James did as he was told and Chakwas examined his wound.

"So how bad is it?" James asked.

"The wound was deep, you're lucky Shepherd came to get you as fast as he did otherwise you could have bled out" she said. "It will take a couple of weeks to heal, so until then no strenuous activity, which means no lifting weights"

"Aw, doc not even a little?"

"Not even a little, you're a strong man Mr. Vega, you can handle a couple of weeks" Chakwas said. Lia stirred awake from the commotion that they were making. Well, sleepyhead"

"Jimmy! Jimmy, are you alright? Are you…?" Lia asked franticly.

"Calm down, Lia…he's fine, he won't be do much but he's fine" Chakwas said. "You probably want to be alone now, I'll be back to check on you later" She left the room, leaving Lia and James alone. They just stood there in silence until, Lia spoke up.

"You scared me, you know…when I heard that you were capture, there were so many horrible thoughts of what could have happened to you" Lia said.

"Lia…"

"I know you were just doing your job, but its never easy for me…I sometimes envy Shepherd and Tali" she said. "If one of them is in trouble, the other can help…but not us, if you got in trouble…I couldn't help you" Tears started to form in her eyes. "I hate that…I hate that I can't help you fight" James just stood there silently trying to find the words to make her feel better, but he couldn't…he was military, his life was dangerous and when he becomes an N7, it would only get more dangerous. Lia as a civilian would have stay back and worry if her boyfriend was dead or not. James wrapped his arms around Lia and hugged her.

"I'm sorry…" was all he could say. "I'm so sorry I put you through this" James released her and looked in her eyes. "I promise to make it up to you, someway…somehow"

"Just promise me, you'll always come back…" James placed his forehead on hers.

"Promise…"

_**The Citadel**_

Since the end of the war…the Citadel has made a fast recovery to the point that Earth now relied on the station to get its resources for its own recovery. Thanks to a deal between the Council and the Alliance, the population of the Citadel was currently majority human due to some of the refugee's relocation to the station. A lone shuttle was flying in the Presidium; Garrus invited Shepherd to meet him in the D24 docking bay of the Citadel. Garrus had an entertaining activity in mind with Shepherd to take his mind off the talking husks the other day…since their existence revealed both the Alliance and Council had been on high alert. They had sent hunting parties down to the subway tunnels to eliminate any husks that were left. Governments around the world were required to report in any husk camp sightings for elimination.

"You still haven't told me where we are going…" Shepherd said.

"Don't worry about it, it will be fun" Garrus said with coy smirk.

Shepherd groaned. "I wish I could think about fun…but all I'm thinking about how I should be down on Earth"

"Come on boss, you work harder than anyone its time you enjoy yourself" he said. "Besides, Tali would kill me if I let you go off on the hunting raids"

Shepherd chuckled. "Twisted your arms, did she?" he said. "Alright, alright….so we going to the Armax Arena they set up recently?"

"Well, it does revolve around guns…and it's also somewhat illegal"

"Okay, now you're talking" Shepherd said with a grin. The two travel to the top of the Presidium, waiting for them some empty beverage cans, two sniper rifles, and cases of levo and dextro Coca-Colas. The shuttle landed and the duo got out.

"Back when I was at C-sec, I stared at the top of the Presidium and say to myself: I want to go up there" Garrus said. "But I couldn't, too many regulations…there's one good thing about being a former vigilante, you don't give a damn quite as much"

"Much of our lives have revolved around the reapers, I say let's start living by doing something stupid for the hell of it" the turrian said. He looked around, there was not that much shuttle traffic out today, and this was perfect nothing to ruin the fun. He grabbed one of the sniper rifles and threw one to Shepherd. "Let's see how good your aim is"

Shepherd examined the rifle and looked at him with a raised brow. "Really? You do know sniper rifles aren't my forte?"

"Never hurts to start practicing" Garrus said. He then smirked. "Besides, your shot has to be better than your dancing"

Shepherd sucked his teeth. "So you're gonna go there, huh? Alright Valkarian, you're on!" Garrus smirked and picked up a can.

"And don't worry, I loaded with practice slugs for when you miss" Shepherd could almost hear the laughter in the turian's voice; the spectre was going to enjoy making him eat those words…if he could hit his target. Shepherd was a novice when to these kinds of guns; if he wanted to attack from a good distance…he'd just use his biotics, the rifle felt clunky in his hand. Garrus drew back and threw the can, Shepherd held up the rifle….the scope moved to and fro slightly. No stabilizer…of course there were no stabilizers, Garrus was such an ace shot that he didn't need stabilizers. Not to mention it was a M-92 Mantis, a gun with a low firing rate and high recoil and it was heavy to boot. Shepherd took a deep breath and fired, and hit the top side of the bottle, the bottle shattered.

"Fuck yeah, bring on the next one!" Shepherd said.

Garrus snorted. "Don't get cocky, that was an easy one to build your confidence" he said. "Long range, I built the book…give me a tough one" He threw a can to Shepherd.

"Be careful what you wish for…" Shepherd smirked. He drew back and threw the can, the spectre then glowed blue and controlled the can with his biotics. Garrus looked at him annoyed. "What? You said to give you a tough one, what's wrong? The great Archangel can't handle a simple moving target?"

"Okay, we'll play your little game…" Shepherd used his hands to guide the bottle in random patterns, making it hard for Garrus to aim but alas Garrus was able to hit it dead center. Shepherd looked on slacked-jawed; Garrus gave a shit-eating smirk. "Even with your biotic, I'm still the best shot around"

"Well, prepare to hand over that title" Garrus got out the last can and threw it out but this time gave it a slight spin, Shepherd smirked confident that he could hit the target. But Garrus gave the bottle such a spin that when Shepherd thought he hit it dead-on, the can curved and he missed dead-on. "I'm Garrus Valkarian and this is my favorite spot on the Citadel" he said gleefully.

Shepherd's eye twitched. "Oh my god, I am never going to hear the end of this, am I?"

"Think I'm going to erect a monument right here…bronze this gun so that the galaxy knows"

Shepherd sighed. "That answers that question" The spectre then started laughing, at least it got his mind off of the husks.

_**Zakera Ward**_

Shepherd and Garrus came down from the presidium to get into more stuff, as they went down the path they heard loud chanting. The two went closer and saw a large crowd…they moved through the crowd to see a group of humans holding up signs and chanting. "Alien's off Earth!"

"Kick the appeasers out!"

Shepherd shook his head. "Terra Firma, wonderful…"

"Shepherd" the spectre looked back and saw Bailey and Kolyat, since the end of the war Bailey had made something of a name for himself. When the Council heard about him, and several hundreds of officers and civilians survived the siege of the Citadel they rewarded the Executor position. His first move as the new top dog at C-sec was to move his office closer to the rest of the officers for a better response time. Bailey came close and held out a hand. "Long time no see Shepherd"

"Good to see you too, Executor"

Bailey rubbed his head sheepishly. "Just Bailey, I'm not used to the formality just yet"

"What are you doing here?"

"We're making sure thing don't get out of hand" Kolyat said.

"What's Terra Firma doing here? Armistice Day isn't for another four months"

Bailey sighed. "They're protesting the Citadel being in the Sol system, ever since the war ended; Terra Firma has been making their presence known more and more"

"Quite troublesome really….but we can't do anything since they have a protesting warrant and are in the right place to protest" Kolyat said. "Really we're here to make sure things don't get out of hand." While they were talking, a Terra Firma protester stopped and looked at the men talking, he looked at the blond-haired black man his eyes narrowed and he picked up an empty glass bottle and moved through the crowd. "Hopefully, the geth with have the relay up and soon before things get crazy"

"DISGUSTING ALIEN LOVER!" a bottle flew across the area and hit Shepherd on the head shattering the bottle to piece. Shepherd staggered back, his head split open from the impact…blood dripped down his head. The crowd screamed out in surprise, as Bailey and the other officers tried to regained order. Garrus went to Shepherd and helped him up and then gazed at the human man and glared.

"You son of a…" Garrus was about to attack the protester that threw the bottle but Kolyat held him back. "Let go, Kolyat!"

"Calm down, Garrus…we don't need a riot on our hands, we'll handle this…get Shepherd checked out" Garrus growled but relented as he grabbed Shepherd to get some medical attention. Kolyat grabbed the man and put him in a submission lock to put the handcuffs on.

"EARTH FOR HUMANS, KICK THE ALIENS AND APPEASERS OUT!" Kolyat had enough and slammed the human's head against the floor knocking him.

"Shut the hell up, you're in enough trouble as it is…" Kolyat said. While C-sec was clearing the area, Shepherd and Garrus were heading to Dr. Michel's clinic to clean Shepherd up. Garrus was grumbling on the way.

"The nerve of that human…you save his worthless lives and this is the thanks you get" Garrus seethed. "Ungrateful bastards, all of them…"

"That's enough, Garrus…what's done is done" Shepherd said. "That little showcase just shows how extreme their views are, people are going to start tuning them out like before"

"Still, the fact one them actually had the balls to that means….they're getting bolder" Garrus said. "I wonder how much worse will this tension get?"

"I don't know, but if it gets worse…we'll be there to fix it" Shepherd said. "That's what we do, after all…"

_**How much worse will tensions between Humans and aliens get? And is this a prelude to something worse? Next Time! REVIEW AND COMMENT**_


	10. Chapter 10: Terror

**Chapter 10: Terror**

_**The Citadel-Embassies**_

It was nighttime on the Citadel, the presidium was abuzz with activity with things moving back to relative safety. At the Embassies, an asari was collecting her things and getting ready to leave on a date with a human she met on Earth. She looked around the office, it was a ghost town as the humans like to say, and to think just a couple of months ago the embassies was full to the brink with different races trying to find out if their loved ones were alive or dead. Nowadays the work hours are a little more lax with the end of the war and the fact the Sol relay was still being repaired. When the asari turned off the light and left the office, two dark figures enter the embassies with a device in hand.

"Careful you idiot! You want to blow us to bits!" one of them said angrily.

"S…sorry, just nervous…god, this is way over our head…" the other one said nervously. "I mean the aliens on Earth are one thing, but the Council will be after our heads after this…"

"Don't puss out on us now, we're in this for the long haul…we'll risk everything until they get the message that aliens are not welcome on Earth" the angry one said. "Set it here" The figures set the device on the floor in the middle of the Embassies, while the nervous one was setting the timer the angry was standing guard. The asari came back in forgetting something she left, she turned the lights on revealing two humans, a Black male and a Asian female. Her eyes went wide.

"Goddess, what do you think you're…" Before she could finish her sentence, a shot rang out and the asari fell to floor with bullet in her head.

"Oh my god!" the man said.

"Filthy alien" the woman said with disgust. "You done?"

"Y…yeah" The timer started on the device. "What about her?"

"Leave her, she's a parting gift from the Militia" she said. "Let's go" They left the embassy and thirty minutes later the embassies was in flames with the presidium in chaos.

_**The Normandy**_

"Huh…it's a little tight…" Shepherd said. Shepherd, Tali and her father was in the crew quarter; Shepherd was in a custom-made quarians that Rael requested his people to make. It was for Shepherd and Tali's wedding, with all the craziness that happened the couple didn't have a chance to plan. Shepherd moved around in the suit, the suit was black and green and had the typical patterns that Rael and Tali's suit had. Apparently tight was an understatement it felt like the suit was glued to his skin, it had its own environmental control so it felt comfortable even though it was a hot summer in London.

Tali giggled. "It's supposed to be tight, it's to keep the outside out" she said. "You look great Wayne"

"I'm surprised you were able to get the resources to make one" Shepherd said.

"Please Shepherd, we're quarians, we make the best from less" Rael said proudly. "Though making a suit that conforms to your body was challenge" The suit makers on the fleet had to disassemble the suit and reassemble it a couple of times, they had so much trouble making a suit before but then again they were used to making it for quarians, not a human. "Still I agree with Tali, you look like you could pass as one of our own"

"Thanks, this so much better than having to wear a tuxedo" he said. "So how are things on the fleet?"

"Other than the talking husk incident, things have been quiet…except for the news of your bonding ceremony" Rael said. "You made quite the impression when you declared that you were going to bond with my daughter" Rael told them that the quarians were quite mixed on their opinions; some found it interesting that an alien was willing to spend the rest of his life with one of their own. It didn't hurt that a lot of the Quarians owed their lives and their future on the homeworld to Shepherd. Others thought Shepherd has some ulterior motives for marrying Tali, such as not long after Shepherd's announcement some Alliance officials came to the fleet to make deals with them…a coincidence but that was enough for some quarians to disagree with the wedding like Han'Gerrel. "However some just believe this union to be…impractical…no matter how much you two love each other, nothing will come from it" he said reluctantly. "You will never have children…"

Tali was silent for a moment, thinking about what he said. When and if Shepherd wanted children, she couldn't give one to him no matter how much she wanted to. This scared her, she's known couples on the flotilla that broke up because they couldn't produce a child and end up resenting each other because of it. Shepherd then spoke up. "It doesn't matter…" Tali looked at the spectre. "If and when we're ready, we'll just adopt…god knows there are lots of children in need of a good home after the war" he said. "That's not why I'm marrying Tali, I'm marrying her because I love her…I want to spend the rest of my life with your daughter, Rael"

Shepherd gripped Tali's hand and looked in her eyes. "Fuck what they say, I'm yours and you're mine…you'll never lose me…" Tali didn't say anything and just smiled, realizing how silly she was being…Shepherd stayed with her even though she could get sick and when he didn't even know what she looked like. He stayed with her even with the glares he gotten for being with a quarian…and he proposed to her in front of everyone despite other people's disapproval, why would this be any different? Tali grabbed his waist and hugged him.

"I love you"

"I love you too"

Rael smiled. "Well then, welcome to the family, Shepherd vas Rannoch" Shepherd's omni-tool beeped and he opened it to reveal Kolyat, there was an incident on the Citadel and Bailey requested him. Shepherd kissed Tali and went to his room to take off his suit before leaving to meet Bailey and Kolyat.

_**The Citadel-Presidium**_

The Presidium was full of people standing around at the crime scene trying to see what happened. C-sec was there in force trying to investigate and keeping the public away so they could work. From the sky Shepherd's car landed and the spectre got out and moved through the crowd. He met with Bailey.

"What happened here?" Shepherd asked.

"An explosive was set off here, half the Embassy is destroyed"

"Any casualties?"

"An asari" Bailey said. "The explosion didn't kill her, she was dead before the device went off…my guess is that she stumbled on to the culprits and was killed to keep her silent" He sighed. "The council is trying to keep things under control, but people are smart and starting to piece things together…and some may try to take things into their hands"

"You have a suspect?" Shepherd asked.

"A couple actually…members of the Terra Firma party" he said.

Shepherd raised his brow. "Terra Firma? I know they are bunch of xenophobes but…"

"And have been very active lately, not to mention they have the motive to do something to do this" Bailey said.

"If you're so sure, why call me?"

"Because…this makes too much sense, and I have my hands tied trying to keep the peace" he said. "But with your spectre status, you can investigate this more thoroughly" They then heard the sounds of fighting in the crowd.

"DAMN APE!"

"FUCK YOU BIRDBOY!"

"Aw damn it…" Bailey said running over to the crowd. The crowd dispersed as C-sec officers went in to break up the fighting. It was brawl between a some humans and turians, the officers came in and swiftly separated the two. "I'd suggest you stop it now before I throw all of your asses in a cell"

"Tell that to the human, he's probably responsible for the embassy"

"Screw you, I didn't do shit, you're the one who started the fight!"

"ENOUGH!" Bailey said losing his patience. "Good back home, now! That goes for all of you!" The crowd dispersed leaving the officers to do their work. Bailey sighed. "We survived the war only to tear each other apart…"

"Bailey, I'll be going now…" Shepherd said. "I'll try to dig up some information; we can't let this go on"

_**The Normandy**_

With Embassy destroyed, Shepherd couldn't rely on the spectre office to get footage of the explosion. So she went to the next best thing, Liara…her network had eyes and ears everywhere including the Citadel. Years ago, the last Shadow Broker placed untraceable bugs all around the station to keep track of agents and his assets and now it was a key to solving a crime. Liara worked her fingers on the keyboard, and the screen showed the last recording before the explosion happened.

"_The asari is gone" a woman said._

"_You may proceed…" The man and woman walked in to the center of the embassy. One the way, the man almost tripped and dropped the device. The woman looked back and glared at the man._

"_Careful you idiot! You want to blow us to bits!" she said angrily._

"_S…sorry, just nervous…god, this is way over our head…" the man said nervously. "I mean the aliens on Earth are one thing, but the Council will be after our heads after this…"_

"_Don't puss out on us now, we're in this for the long haul…we'll risk everything until they get the message that aliens are not welcome on Earth" the woman said. "Set it here"_ _The man sat the device on the floor while the woman stood guard._

_A asari came back in and turned the lights on revealing them. "Goddess, what do you think you're…" Before she could finish her sentence, the woman took a carafex heavy pistol and shot the asari in the head._

"_Oh my god!" the man said._

"_Filthy alien" the woman said with disgust. "You done?"_

"_Y…yeah" The timer started on the device. "What about her?"_

"_Leave her, she's a parting gift from the Militia" she said. "Let's go" _Liara fast-forwarded the video clip and the device exploded wiping out half of the embassy and the feed ended there.

Shepherd frowned. "The Militia…who are they?"

"We'll find out now, Glyph" The information drone appeared and floated over to them.

"Yes Dr. T'soni?"

"Compile a list of organized entities, keyword: Militia" Liara said.

"Collecting data…result found: there a 2,436 organized entities that go by the name 'Militia'" Glyph said.

"Add filter, human organizations called Militia" Liara said.

"Result found: 450 organizations called militia, 200 are historical references"

"Well that was helpful…" Shepherd said. "Thanks anyway Liara"

"Shepherd, since this a human organization, why don't you talk to Admiral Anderson or Hackett?"

Shepherd nodded. "Sounds good"

_**The Citadel-Shalta Wards**_

At the Huerta Memorial Hospital, the doctors and nurses were standing by in case someone came in needing help. One of the personnel yawned. "I'm going out to get some food, you want me to bring you something back?" a woman asked.

"No, not right now…damn you hear about the Embassies"

"Yeah, a terrorist attack…according to C-sec is was an attack made by humans" the woman shook her head. "I don't what their trying to achieve…but all they're doing is making our race look bad" She went to entrance about to leave, when she heard a beeping sound.

"What the hell is that sound?" She looked around and walked towards the sound until she turned the corner where she saw a device. "What is this…?" She faced the device and saw a timer counting down…her eyes went wide. "Oh my god…" She ran back to the entrance.

"Charlotte? What's wrong?"

"Get everyone out of here, doctors, patients, everyone!" she said. "Hurry!"

"What…I?"

"There is a bomb outside the building, get everyone out now!"

_**Who are the Militia and can Shepherd stop them in time? Next time! REVIEW AND COMMENT!**_


	11. Chapter 11: Enter the HLM

**Chapter 11: Enter the HLM**

_**Huerta Memorial Hospital**_

C-sec was on the scene, the officers moved quickly to help the doctors and nurse with moving the patients out of the hospital. Above them was a flying camera drone operated by Kolyat, giving them an eye in the sky to make sure there weren't any people left…so far they were moving fast but they had to move faster because they were on a timer. Meanwhile Bailey was outside with the other officers trying to keep people away from the building, but it was hard a lot of the civilians outside were families of the patients C-sec and the hospital's staff were trying move. Not far behind him was the C-sec bomb squad trying to deactivate the bomb…

"Kolyat, how are we looking?" Bailey asked over the comm.

"Forty percent of the hospital have evacuated…good but not good enough" the drell said.

"Shit…bomb squad status report"

"We're working on it, Executor…but the device is more advanced than we originally thought" one of the members said. "There are three firewalls, each harder to crack than the last…whoever designed this wanted to make sure no one tampered with it" A beep was then sounded. "Oh crap…"

"What is it?" Bailey asked.

"We just tripped some sort of fail-safe within the device, the timer is accelerating" another one said. "Tell the extraction team to hurry, we may not be able to stop it" Bailey rubbed his temples, so far whoever planted the bomb has outfox C-sec and successfully sewn chaos among the populace…it's been a hellish twenty-four hours trying the human and alien populace from tearing each other a new one. C-sec was stretched thin between trying to keep the peace and trying to keep watch for more bombings. Bailey turned his head when he heard a commotion from the side as he saw a man and woman arguing with one of his men, he walked over.

"What's going on here?" Bailey asked.

"Please sir, we just to see if our daughter is all right…she's in the ICU on the third floor" the woman said.

"A lot of people have loved ones in there; we can't just let you…" Bailey's man started. Bailey raised his hand and silenced his subordinate.

"We know you are worried but we're trying everything we can…you'll see your little girl again promise" Bailey said. "Stay back until we can get the situation under control." He opened his omni-tool. "Talk to me"

"Bailey, fifty percent of the building is cleared…the extraction team and the doctors are moving up to the third and fourth floor" Kolyat said. Bailey looked at the man and woman at they were looking him hopefully. "We have a problem…the third and fourth floor are ICUs, we need another way to moved them that won't harm the patients"

"You have a plan?"

"Yes…we'll have to move them on the floor they're on" Kolyat said. "Permission to use the Kodiaks, sir?"

"Permission granted…hurry it up, I don't know how much time the bomb has left"

"Yes sir!" Bailey then gotten another beep, it was the bomb squad.

"Report"

"We've stopped the fail-safe, sir…but it took more time than we thought"

"How much time do we have?" Bailey asked.

"Ten minutes…" Bailey frowned, that was not enough time for the extraction team and the doctors to get through the third and fourth floor even with Kolyat's plan. "Sir?"

"Disable that bomb, no matter what"

"Yes sir!"

_**Alliance HQ-London**_

"_Leave her; she's a parting gift from the Militia"_ The clip ended and Hackett was at his desk rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Them…just what we needed…" Hackett said with a sigh.

"So you know who they are?" Shepherd asked. Hackett told the spectre who they were, they were known as Humanities' Liberation Milita or HLM for short. They were a pro-human terrorist group based on Earth...for years they've terrorized the alien population on Earth by bombing their homes of their businesses.

"Every government on Earth knows of them, and has them on their most wanted lists" Hackett said. "They believe in human purity and that aliens are corrupting that purity"

"What a cheerful bunch…" Shepherd said sarcastically. "I bet they would have gotten along with Cerberus"

"Actually no, the HLM was considered too extreme even for Cerberus" Hackett said. "And for Cerberus to reject them, shows just how crazy they are and that's not even the worse of it" Shepherd looked at him, Hackett explained that they showed their greatest venom for humans that associate with alien especially humans in a relationship with an alien…equating it to bestiality. "When they see a human with an alien, they will kill the alien and kidnap the human…'to educate them on the natural order of things'

Shepherd frowned. "Meaning…?"

"Psychological and physical torture, to rape…everything is fair game in their eyes" Hackett said. "When their 'education' fails to turn them, they will kill them and string their bodies up on display as a warning to all humans that associate with aliens"

"They sound more like a cult than a terrorist group…" Shepherd said.

"Yes and what's worse is that they can blend in with the populace unlike Cerberus" Hackett said. Shepherd's omni-tool opened.

"Shepherd"

"Bailey? What is it?" the spectre asked.

"We caught one of the bastards, my men caught them in the act and fire-fight ensued" Bailey said. "One of them was killed in the fight and the other is injured…we're patching her up for interrogation"

"I may need your help to crack her open"

Shepherd nodded. "On my way" he said. The spectre turned back to the Admiral. "Thanks for the info"

"No problem, Shepherd…I'll order the soldiers to be stand-by" Hackett said. "And one word of warning, HLM members are absolute in their ideology…you may have to get rough to get some answers"

_**The Citadel-C-sec**_

Bailey was outside of the interrogation room waiting for Shepherd to arrive, inside was one of the culprits responsible for the Embassy bombing and the bomb at Huerta Memorial Hospital. While Bailey was trying to stop the bomb from detonating, the woman and her partner was trying to set up another bomb at the Larathos Institution in the Kithoi Ward but was caught in the act by C-sec patrol. A chase throughout the ward happen until the culprits were cornered near the keeper vats, a fire fight soon broke out…one of them a black man was shot and killed due to inexperience. The other an Asian woman held her own…for a while until her injuries forced her to stop.

He watched the woman; eyes showed no remorse for what she did…it pissed the Executor off a lot. If it was up to him, he would put a bullet in her head but he needed her to snitch out her comrades. He heard the door open and looked back. "Bailey" Shepherd greeted.

"Shepherd" Bailey responded.

"You sound pissed"

"That's because, I am…we found another one of those devices" Bailey explained. "It was at Huerta Memorial…we stopped the bomb, but a lot innocent people and good men could have died"

"Just who are we dealing with?"

"The HLM or Humanities Liberation Militia…a pro-human terrorist group"

Bailey scoffed. "Pro-human? There is nothing human about what they just did" he said. "Anyway, if we're going to interrogate her we should do it now" Shepherd nodded and the two men entered the room, the woman gave them a cold look.

"Commander Shepherd, so the aliens' lapdog has decided to grace me with his presence" the woman started. "You disgust me…its not enough to lick their boots, you're now sleeping with them"

"My, aren't we talkative, since you're talking maybe you can explain where your friends are at?" Shepherd asked. "Do this for us and maybe we'll go easy on you"

"And now you want to spend the rest of your life with them, you couldn't handle a real woman so you resort to bestiality, truly you alien lovers are pathetic" she said.

"Taunting me is not going to work, you're just digging yourself deeper" Shepherd said with crossed arms.

"Holding me does nothing for you; there are other soldiers willing to do what is needed" she said. "Do your worst, my faith in my purity is absolute"

Bailey frowned. "Soldiers don't bomb hospitals full of sick and injured people" he said. "There were one hundred and fifty humans at the hospital; you would have killed more innocent humans than aliens"

"They would have been martyrs to the cause…" Bailey clenched his fist and was about to show her what he thought of her cause but Shepherd pulled him back and shook his head although he was tempted to let Bailey go. They backed off and went into the other room; Bailey took a deep breath trying to cool himself down.

"This is no good…we're not getting anywhere with her, all she's done so far is get to us" Shepherd said. "Hmm…maybe, we don't need her to tell us anything.."

Bailey looked at him. "What do you suggest?" Shepherd smirked and opened his omni-tool, a woman's voice spoke up.

"Shepherd, what do you need?"

"Samara, we need your help" Shepherd said. "We have a terrorist that blew up the Embassy and tried to destroy a hospital…she won't talk" Bailey crossed his arms, looking at Shepherd wondering why he was calling the asari. "So we need you to extract the information from her, you told me once that mind-melding was used for more than just reproduction"

"True, I also said that it was taboo among our people as it was an invasion of privacy unless they are willing" Samara said.

"So you won't do it…" Shepherd said.

"I never said I wouldn't, if you need me to stop an injustice then I am within the code to do so" she said. "I will be there in a moment" The comm closed, and Bailey walked towards him.

"You think this will work?"

"She wants to play hardball, then we'll play it her way" Shepherd said. "Either way, the attacks stop now" Later, Samara entered the room…she walked over to the window and gazed at the woman.

"Is that her?"

Shepherd nodded. "Yeah, we need the information as fast as we can…she said that more were willing to attack the Citadel, we can't let that happen" he said. "Use any means, after what she did…mercy is out of the question"

Samara nodded. "Then I will be quick" The justicar went inside, Shepherd and Bailey saw as the woman gave a murderous glare at Samara.

"So the lapdogs couldn't break me and so they sent in their masters" she said. "You asari, you wear the faces of human women…you are an affront to our purity"

"You should consider yourself lucky, human…by the Code you would be dead but you are in the care of people far more merciful than I" Samara said. "You will tell me everything about the HLM's operation" The woman snorted and spit in Samara's face, Shepherd had to admit…the woman had brass balls standing up to the justicar. Samara just showed the same stoic face as she wiped the spit away from her face and came forward. "This will only take a second…."

The woman's eyes went wide. "W-what are you doing?" she asked in fear. "Get away from me, you filth!" Samara closed her eyes and opened them…revealing pitch black eyes.

"Embrace eternity…" Later on, Samara walked out of the room…getting the information she needed. Behind her, the woman sat in the chair staring up at nothing…mumbling to herself…

"I've been defiled…defiled…defiled….defiled…." The woman said like a broken record.

"What did you to her?" Bailey asked.

"She will be fine…mind-melding is harmless unless with an Ardat-Yakshi" Samara said. "She kept on resisting and just exhausted her mind…she will be fine after some rest"

"Did you get any useful info?" Shepherd asked.

"Yes, though it was difficult sifting through all the bile her mind contained" she said. "She and her partner came from cell northwest from London in Northern Ireland"

Shepherd nodded. "I'll let the Council and the Alliance know…"

_**The Hunt is on! Next Time! Review and Comment! Still taking requests, got one? PM on my profile.**_


	12. Chapter 12: The Raid

**Chapter 12: The Raid**

_**HLM compound**_

It was dark and dreary at the compound, the room had no windows...it was small and suffocating. Inside were a couple of humans that the HLM captured, one was captured because he worked for an alien boss; another was a local politician that opened his city to the aliens so his citizens could get resources. And the rest were there because they were in a relationship with an alien…all of them were hooked up to machines, their arms and legs bound, and the mouth covered. In front of them was a man, a fat and ugly thing…walked back and forth looking at his 'charges' with a mix of disgust and malice.

"Each of you are here because you have committed a great sin…" the man said. "You have threatened and corrupted the purity of our species…by this you should be dead" He could hear the sound of muffled crying, the man could barely keep a straight face…the suffering of these traitors was almost palpable. Somehow he was able to keep it together and went back to his speech. "But fate has smiled on you; because you are one of us…you can redeem yourselves" he said. "We will re-educate you on the natural order of things…whether you take to our lessons is entirely up to you…"

The man nodded to the woman in the back, she activated the halo projector and it revealed a human child with human parents. The machine hummed and the bound humans felt a prick in their body as a needle injected them a mixture of morphine and red sand…they felt euphoric, joyful. But then the image changed to a human with an asari and two asari children and the rush of happiness was gone and replaced with pain as jolts of electricity surged throughout their bodies…the room was filled with muffled screams of agony. Another slide of humans was shown, and another dose of the morphine/red sand mixture flooded their bodies taking away their pain and bringing back the euphoria. The man looked on as his education was taking place, the procedure was so simple, by using the joy and pain in the brain…the hostages broke down making it easy to convert them, usually after the first round the hostages were ready come around. If that didn't work, the hostages were treated to a more extreme version of re-education...torture even rape was on the table if it meant saving their purity. If all else failed, then they would be killed as they have proven that they were beyond salvation.

A knock at the door was heard and the man frowned…he hated when he was disturbed. "Keep at it, I want a record of their progress" The woman nodded as he exited the room, he turned a few corners and made it to the Command center of the Compound. Inside was tall blue-eyed and red-headed man, his name Robert Lyon leader of the Northern Ireland cell. Lyon was cool and calm man; he was once a member of the Alliance and at one point loyal to their ideals but then the First Contact War happened. He was on Shanxi during the Turian's bombardment; he saw first-hand the cruelty of the aliens as people died around him left and right. He also saw how much his loyalty and faith meant to the Alliance; it meant absolutely nothing as they were abandoned to the mercy of the Turians. After the war ended, he saw the government he was loyal to getting into bed with their attackers, and soon after left the Alliance. "What is it, Lyon? You know I don't like to be disturbed during re-education"

"You may need to end your lessons, Dunbar" Lyon said. "I've received a message from one of our kin in London, the Alliance and Citadel have amassed a large force"

A dark-haired woman scoffed. "It was a mistake to send Smith and Rivera, Smith is a coward and Rivera has anger issues" she said. "We should have sent our more senior members"

"What's done is done, Celina…right now I want a complete evacuation of the compound" Lyon said. "I've sent word to the other cells of our arrival, Celine I want all of our information wiped" He looked at Dunbar. "Do what needs to be done"

"Very well" Dunbar said as he left the command center. He walked back to the education room, he saw the hostages still hooked up to the machines…on the projector was a picture of Citadel Councilors another round of shocks from the machine. A lone beeping sound was heard from one of the machines…a flat line signal, one of the hostages had just died it sometime happened during re-education some just didn't have the stamina for their methods. Two men came inside and unstrapped the one who died, it was a man they kidnapped from his home…he was just eating dinner with his asari wife and children until they came in and killed his family and took him. They carried him out of the room, to dump and burn the body, Dunbar went to the back of the room and whispered into the woman's ear.

The woman nodded and shut off the halo projector, the machine shut down also giving the hostages sweet relief from their torture but it wouldn't last. Dunbar walked to the front. "How sad, I'm afraid your lesson has come to an end" he said pulling out a pistol. Despite his words, Dunbar had a calm, almost serene look to his face as he pointed his gun. His first victim was a young woman, a bang sounded and her head slumped down as blood flowed from her head. The hostages' eyes went wide at the sight. "It saddens me deeply to have to do this, it really does...but sacrifices must be made" Dunbar and his assistant went around the room killing the hostages one by one. The room was filled muffled cries and screaming, some were silent and closed their eyes waiting for their fates. A rumble was felt… "What the devil…?"

_**Command Center**_

"Damn it, they couldn't be here now" Lyon said.

"Lyon, we've received word from our guards outside, it is indeed the Alliance and Citadel" Celina said. "Fuck, they're being led by the Normandy…what's the plan Lyon?"

"Activate the mech…."

"Mechs won't stop them!"

"They're not there to stop them, they're there to give us time" he said. "Gather everything you can and scrap the rest"

_**Outside the Compound**_

Above the HLM compound, were Alliance Kodiaks in the middle of a firefight with the terrorist group's AA guns. The guards took up positions behind barricades with heavy weapons in hand; they took aim and shot one of the shuttles in the thrusters. "Dah! I'm hit, I repeat I'm hit!" the pilot said trying to stabilize the falling shuttle. Another shuttle moved in and blasted the group that took down the Kodiak; the HLM was putting up a good fight even though their weaponry were outdated.

The damaged shuttle was rocked hard as it crashed landed in the back of the compound. The captain of the ground team got up. "Everyone alive?" She heard groaning beside her and her team was getting up, one of her men went to check on the pilot…he groaned holding his head, he was dazed but alive. The captain looked out of the window and saw HLM guards with two rare types of mechs. The GARM mechs were upgraded versions of the FENRIS mechs; they were larger and sleeker than the FENRIS. Unlike the FENRIS that just ran up to enemies, the GARM had two mass accelerator machine guns on its back and much faster. Next to the GARM was the red and grey SURTR heavy mechs, upgraded version of the YMIR mechs it had two mass accelerator machine guns on its hands and its shoulders had multiple mini missile silos that held VI assisted missiles for extra accuracy. "Look alive, everyone!"

Back in the front, the Kodiaks were starting to land after destroying the compounds AA guns. The Alliance ground team exited the shuttles and engaged the remaining guards and mechs. The soldiers took cover and fired at the approaching LOKI and FENRIS mechs, while the mechs was on the frontline, the guards fell back to attack the soldiers with heavy weapons. Shot was heard and two guards were taken down. "They have snipers, get to cover!"

The mechs were dismantled and the soldiers had their sights on the guards. "Move up! Suppressive fire!"

_**The Normandy**_

As the Alliance ground team was fighting the guards, the raiding team lead by the Normandy was heading for the compound. Shepherd was in the cockpit with EDI and Joker, listening to the sounds of battle. "Alliance strike teams have eliminated the bases outer defenses and are engaging with the guards"

"It was smart of Hackett to call the soldiers stationed in North Ireland to attack first" Shepherd said. "We could have lost a lot of ground waiting for our side to mobilize, call the team to conference room"

"Aye-aye, Shepherd" Later on, the team met in the conference room, in the middle of the room was a holographic display of the compound.

"Alright listen up, while the strike teams got the outside covered, the raiding party will go inside to take them out" Shepherd said. He looked at Samara. "Any more information you can share, Samara?"

The justicar shook her head. "I'm afraid not…other than the location, our captive didn't have much information on the compound itself" she said. "She was a low ranking member of the group, according to her mind only the proven get more access the leader and the group's secrets"

"So we're going in blind…" Jacob said. "The compound is huge though, no telling how many nasty surprise they have waiting for us"

"Wayne, what's our gameplan?" Kaiden asked.

"We split up into three teams, Samara, Javik and I will capture the leader"

Javik snorted. "Hmph, better to kill him to break the enemies morale, but I will follow you Commander"

"Garrus, Miranda, and Jacob are on hostage rescue, just watch your shots, the HLM don't mind using the hostages as a shield"

Garrus nodded. "Got it, boss"

"Kaiden, Tali, and Kasumi are on data collection, find any information you can find…leave nothing unturned" Shepherd said. "Hopefully, the information will help the Citadel and Alliance find the other cells" Kaiden nodded. "Keep your eyes peeled, everyone…the HLM may not be Cerberus but don't underestimate them, they're capable of anything"

"EDI, stay on the ship, I want you to monitor our comms at all time"

"Yes sir!" The Normandy landed near the compound and the shuttle bay opened, the team ran out and was met with a dozen guards and mechs firing them. Jacob came up first and charged the group with a huge force and struck the ground with his Nova to scatter them. The team went inside and was met with more guards; Garrus threw out proxy mines that took out the guard. Despite being heavily armed, the HLMs didn't have the disciplined personnel that Cerberus had, in fact they relied on the mechs to fill in the holes. However, they did little against Tali's hacking job, with a press of a button the mech turned against them. The team split up into their respective groups.

_**Command center**_

"They're in, Lyon" Celina said.

"How much data do we have?" Lyon asked.

"Thirty-four percent"

"That's good enough, scrap the rest" he said. He went to a wall and activated his omni-tool, the wall opened up revealing some stairs going downwards.

"What about Dunbar?"

"If he hasn't made here yet, he's one his own" Lyon and Celina went down the stairs as the door closed behind them.

_**As the Shepherd and allies work to dismantle the cell, the Leader makes his escape! Can they capture him? Next time! Review and Comment!**_


End file.
